I bottled three from each pH and took a sample from each. 4.5 was awful but Ellie like it best. I thought it was the most estery and sharp. Almost vinegary or solventy. 5.8 wasn't bad. A little estery but not too bad. It was without body, maybe watery. 5.1 is pretty good.
I have not detected my apple ester in any of these to the extent I was expecting. So let's say this, pH matters. A lot! Too high and it's watery. Too low and it's sharp and estery. But it's not my culprit. Which leads me to this thought, I've done slip batches just like this one. Why was this one without that apple ester?
This is the first time I've used Saaz hops. Maybe that matters. I'll try to switch to that and see if it matters going forward.
Something I've been tossing around was that the pitch rate for this batch was the perfect amount. I've always overpitched because I've read that too little yeast causes esters and one thing to do would be to pitch more yeast. So I do. Usually much more. I think our next split batch experiment will be a pitch rate experiment. The best way to do that would be to use dry yeast since I can measure it out better.
Another thing is that they spent the first week in the guest bathtub, not the fermentation chamber. Could the chest freezer just be pissing those yeast off. I don't think so since my split batch O2 test was fermented in the house. Also, I've tried fermenting in a giant coozy in the past just to eliminate the chest freezer variable and got apple ester.
For now I point to pitch rate and test for that soon. I'll try these beers again in a couple of weeks after they have bubbles.
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