Blonde Ale Tasting Notes

So the last few batches have been a blonde ale with no O2 stone, blonde ale with 20sec O2, and a blonde ale with 30sec O2 and not in a chest freezer.

I poured all three last night and tasted them side by side. The first had a banana/bubble gum taste still to it. If I didn't know any better I'd say this was a Belgian beer. It was a dry yeast packet if I remember right. The second two tasted the same. They tasted pretty clean. Not too much easters. I would like to note that the second of the two did taste eastery a couple of weeks ago and has cleaned up a little.

So it would appear that O2 was the culprit this whole time. It also would appear that the chest freezer adds some easters, but not much. Although, since I added 30sec of O2 instead of 20sec, this may be the issue.

I think the next experiment then becomes how much is the ideal amount of O2 to put into my blonde ale. Since it is in volumes, I'm going to need to do the experiment 5 gallons at a time.

I'm relieved to have figured some of this out. I was beginning to get discouraged. Also, I think I should make some to drink once in a while. Instead of beer for the sake of making better beer later.