Probably brewing up a cider/ale hybrid here soon, and was wondering if folks had any suggestions for an English yeast with apple/pear esters. Not looking for any phenols, so no Belgian or Hefe yeasts. Thanks!
WLP 820 American Pils / 2007 St Louis Lager is reported to be Budweiser. Not an ale and not English but well known for it's green apple profile. And I have not used it. But at a warmish pils fermentation temp you might be able to coax the apple profile and avoid phenols. Personally, Bel Saison is my favorite for cider combinations. Not a tremendous help here... Cheers.
While I don't know the answer to your question, underpitching which ever yeast you choose and increasing your fermentation temperature will increase ethyl acetate (apple/pear ester) production.
White Labs English Ale Yeast gives you both apple and pear. Their Kolsch strain also gives a lot of apple if fermented a little warm but nothing I'd call specifically pear.
I've never got apple or pear from this yeast. Always peach/stone fruit. Ive probably used it about 15 times over the years, it's my favorite English ale strain.
I don't want to think about the amount of sulfur that a cider would throw off when fermented with a lager strain.
Just pull it off the yeast cake really quickly and you should get plenty of acetaldehyde. I kid, I kid.
I have used 1469 a fair bit and that yeast does not produce apple/pear in my beers. Just like @scottakelly posted: I personally get stone fruit flavors from this yeast. I would not recommend that you encourage ethyl acetate since at higher levels it will have a solvent flavor: “These esters contribute to the overall flavor and aroma of beer, giving a “fruity” quality to a drink that rarely contains any fruit. As ethyl acetate intensifies, however, the aromatic perception can skew from pleasant and “fruity” to “solventy” and “perfumy;” abnormally high levels are therefore regarded as off-flavors.” https://beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/O1rjQz3DYu/ethyl-acetate/ In the past I have brewed Saison beers using a yeast from BrewTek that produced notable apple aroma/flavor but BrewTek has been out of business for a very long time. Cheers!
Interesting thing about ethyl acetate thresholds, in case any of you all wanted to know. Average human threshold for it is around 2 ppm, but it starts getting solventy for most people around 30 ppm. Decent amount of wiggle room in there to increase your levels without them getting into the nail polish remover zone and seeing as most saccharomyces cerevisiae strains that we use don't have wickedly strong AAT (alcohol acetyl transferase) activity, like many brettanomyces or pichia species do, you shouldn't have to worry that much about your beer going nail polish remover on you unless your fermentation temperatures get way too high.
According to the Beer Sensory Science website the flavor threshold for ethyl acetate is 33 ppm: “Ethyl acetate (aka: ethyl ethanoate): already mentioned above, this is the most common ester in beer by weight, but not necessarily by flavor impact. Threshold: 33ppm. Common levels in beer: 8-70ppm. Formed by the condensation of acetyl CoA and ethanol. Smells of nail polish and solvent at high concentrations, but can have a slightly fruity aroma at low levels. Our panel has seen ethyl acetate in these beers: Full Sail Keelhauler Scottish Ale, Dogfish Head Midas Touch, Bridgeport Highland Ambush, New Belgium Ranger IPA, among others.” https://beersensoryscience.wordpress.com/2011/02/04/esters/ Needless to say but each individual will have their own threshold values for when they first perceive this compound and what level will yield a perception of a solvent aroma/flavor. Cheers!
I always thought esters produced the red (sweet apple) aromatics while aldehydes produced the green apple ones.
Just to clarify: I am planning on pitching a starter according to Mr. Malty after the wort has cooled to ~60F and keeping fermentation temperatures in the upper 60s.
Are there noticeable Belgian characteristic? I used T-58 in a mead and it pretty much came across as neutral. That experience and a few things I've read or heard make me wonder if simple sugars coax less flavor from yeast.
