S-04 Esters

[MickDundee]

Does anyone else find these quite overpowering?

I've just used it for the first time in an English Golden ale and I've just started drinking it but the esters from the yeast are overpowering the malt and the hops. It's the kind of fruity flavour profile that makes me think more of a bitter than a golden ale.

The beer is still quite young (3 weeks bottled) so can I expect it to mellow with age (the beer hadn't yet fully cleared)? Or is it a life lesson that I would be better using something like Nottingham in an English pale ale than S-04?

Ive only ever made American ales with US-05/MJ44 or Belgian ales so making English beer is new to me (but drinking it isn't)!

 

[doomy86]

At what temp did you ferment? I usually use 18-20C with US05 and S04 and think that S04 is not that estery.

 

[simon12]

I agree S04 leaves beer sweeter and less crisp than US05 but is not very estery at all certainly not enough to overpower other flavours. Could you have under pitched or used out of date or badly stored yeast or had very high and/or fluctuating temperature? Nottingham will finish dryer (close to S05) but I think is more similar to S04 in flavour.

 

[LarryF]

Friday night I tried a first bottle of a John Bull IPA with Crystal USA and brewed to 7% using S04 for the first time. It's only been in the bottle 2 weeks and I'm loving it, it's gorgeous and I'm fighting to stay from the crate to let it condition properly. The problem I have is that the only other beer I have is a Bulldog Penine Ale which hasn't turned out very nice at all so I have to work my way through them first.....must...stay...away...from...the...JB IPA.

 

[MickDundee]

I may have pitched the yeast too warm but I wouldn't have thought significantly so (probably 22 or 23C, my Inkbird showed 21 when I got it under the stairs) and then it was at 18C within 24 hours. It might just be that the beer is too young rather than the yeast but it was a yeasty taste. I'm going to keep my minikeg at 4C for the rest of the week then let it warm up to 10 for the weekend and see if it helps.