WLP838 Southern German Lager Yeast and bubble gum esters

burtom · Mar 20, 2019

I have been brewing Helles beers lately and the last 2 I brewed with 838 and both came out with significant bubble gum esters. I searched on line and found nothing about this yeast and bubble gum.

The particulars:
6 gallon batch
11 pounds German Pils.
9 ounces of Munich about 9L
3 ounces of Melanoiden
Mash at 149 for 60 minutes
90 minute boil
90 minute hops
.9 ounces of Halltau Mittlefruh
.9 ounces of Saaz
10 minute hop additions
.4 ounces of Hallertau Mittlefruh
.4 ounces of Saaz

Fermentation
4 L starter of WPL383 crashed and decanted
50 F for two weeks from OG of 1.050 to a gravity of 1.010 65 F for 3 days cold crashed and kegged.

Any ideas why the bubble gum?

ba-brewer · Mar 20, 2019

I have used this yeast a few time and it was pretty clean. I recall the beers cleaning/clearing up quickly.

Did you pitch cold? I have heard people getting esters when they pitch warm and cool to fermenting temp.

Some yeast can throw esters if too cold too, any chance you could of been dropping below 50?

I have had contest beers get flagged for esters. I reached out to one of the judges on one of those beers once and he had said oxygen exposure during bottling can cause esters. Not sure how that actually works but I remember his comments. Did you do anything to prevent O2 suck back during cold crashing?

Not sure how long you have lagered your beer, but some people say esters get less with time, but it seem like I have some get more significant with time. There is a brief comment to that effect in this link is the "The 3 phases of a lager fermentation" section.
http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Fermenting_Lagers

burtom · Mar 21, 2019

Pitched at 48 and let it warm to 50 should have stayed pretty close to 50.
Cold crashed with 5 pounds CO2 pressure. Thanks for the link looks like good reading. I think it has been lagered about 2 months now.