Chico Yeast - Citrusy tartness with cool fermentation?

[shedliving]

I recently brewed a pale ale with Wyeast 1056. I cooled the wort to 58 and set the fridge to 60 ambient temp.
Beer fermented in the low 60's for a few days, then I ramped the ambient fridge temp to 63 to help finish things off.

Taking a sample 10 days into fermentation - gravity is right where it should be. Beer is "finished" in that sense. But there's this citrusy tannin twang almost borderline sour/tart taste there. I know it's not contamination, because I looked back on brewing notes from years past and found I got this same taste with WLP001, Us-05, and 1056 when fermenting cool. Then I checked the Wyeast site and found this: " Mild citrus notes develop with cooler 60-66°F (15-19ºC) fermentations."

I'd say the citrus "notes" are more then just notes - they seem not quite puckering, but definitely some kind of tangy sour/tartness that does not seem appropriate for an american yeast.

How do people here like to ferment chico strain in their pales/IPAs? I've been using 1968 for so long I've lost touch with how to brew with 1056.

[EL TIZZO]

I have heard that yeast is quite capable of fermenting that low but I have never ventured into that territory...I make a lot of IPAs and pales and generally start at 65 and finish off around 68...seems to give me the best ferment with low esters and quick turn around

Cheers

[shedliving]

When you're brewing with that yeast and fermenting @ 65 - what temp do you like to chill your wort to? Few degrees lower then 65? Or just start @ 65 and go from there?

I think I've been caught up in cool Wyeast 1968 fermentations for too long - that yeast does very well @ 60-62
produces low esters, very clean etc. Problem is there's always more fruit in it then I prefer, so I've decided to go back to chico, but now maybe I have to adjust my thinking about temperature for that yeast. Maybe it's true that Chico just likes warmer temps

[EL TIZZO]

this time of year with the groundwater temps the way they are its usually pitch and 65 and go...when possible I do like to go a few degrees under to low 60s and let it go to 65 from there...if it matters at all I generally use white labs 001 instead of wyeast 1056 or us05 only because thats what I'm used to

Cheers!

[Ozwald]

I do the majority of my ale ferments between 64-68, frequently with 1056. I really don't notice any significant yeast flavor from that range, but I do let it come up to ~70 after primary is done. Not sure if that's cleaning that flavor out or what. My APA/IPA's tend to be pretty citrus-y from the hop bill, but I would think I would notice it in my porter which is all English hops (I haven't). I'm guessing that I must be just barely above leaching those flavors out. Since it's starting to get a little cooler, I may have to experiment with this.

[brewinhard]

I have used this strain at 59-60F to produce a decent altbier. I did not notice any citrusy or tartness from the yeast profile, but then again my recipe has quite a bit of darker, toasty malts and hops that could've hid the profile. I have gotten some light peach esters when fermenting in the low 60's before though with this strain.

[shedliving]

Beer is finished now - I'm actually very impressed with how clear and bright the beer is without filtration - As I said before I fermented in the low 60's - then raised the temp to the mid 60's. 2 week total fermentation, 1 week dry hopping @ 60 degrees - transferred to corny kegs, then 1 week @ 34 degrees. 3 days before transferring to a serving keg I added gelatin. I am amazed at how clear and bright this beer is - just as bright as my 1968 beers.

But that damn tart taste is still there! It's not so much there in the finish - You can detect it in the aroma, and while you're drinking it, you can taste it, but in the finish, it's not there. There's no puckering tannic sensation you'd get from a dry red wine - instead I'm getting what I want, which is mouth-coating sticky hops which makes to want another sip. But there's this tart/acetic thing going on- actually now I think the best description is "PUKEY" You get a faint wiff of it in the aroma, and then you notice it when you're drinking. It's a weird sensation, like you're picking up on this faint "VOMIT character". WTF is that? Kind of sucks because I feel it's a great beer otherwise. Wish I knew what to do about it, hopefully it's something that can be rectified by higher fermentation temp.

[Ozwald]

Out of curiosity, what's the history of the yeast you fermented with? Pitch straight from a vial? Starter? Saved from an old batch?