So after three weeks I sampled the split batch and two things were noted. First, the beer with more yeast was less estery. Second, both beers were still horribly estery. So, I've learned what things I can do to get less esters but I still have an ester problem in my brewery. What am I doing to cause this problem? It will be a fun adventure to figure it out. Who knows. Maybe I will never figure it out and my career as an amateur brewer is over. But I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet!
Possible issues:
1. I think I need to keep the wort cool before I pitch. I usually get impatient and cool the wort only to 72ish, pitch the yeast, and then cool to 65ish in the chest freezer. Maybe this drop in temp pisses off the yeast. So next brew I think I will cool the wort more before I pitch.
2. The chest freezer is currently set at +-3F. I always thought this was sufficient since the beer is a large thermal mass and would not fluctuate all that much. Also, this will keep the compressor from cycling on and off like a boss. Perhaps this is causing the beer temp to fluctuate too much. Once I get the temp controller working I will be able to gather data about this issue.
3. Equipment issues. Maybe the stuff that measures the temperatures is broke. Maybe the O2 stone is broke. Maybe some other equipment is to blame. I'm going to try #1 and #2 before I start thinking about this.
Wish me luck.
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