uechikid

Recipes 

I have 20 gallons of IPA in the fermenting fridge @ 65 deg. OG. was 1.060. I made a starter and was very careful about sanitation and I aerated each carboy. It's the 6th day of fermentation and all four carboy are going strong still. I dipped into one to taste it and it didn't taste sour or off in any way, just a little sweet still. This doesn't seem normal to me. Any thoughts??

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SavageSteve

Recipes 

Seems normal to me. Six days is completely within the normal range of fermentation. 65 deg. F. will lengthen fermentations compared to a 72 deg. F. fermentation. What yeast did you use? Different strains ferment differently.

Also, have you taken a specific gravity reading? How close are you to your expected FG? It may actually be nearly done.

-Steve

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On Deck: Jamil's Vanilla Robust Porter
Fermenting: Orange Blossom Mead
Kegs: Element 56 Pale Ale, Ron's Belgian Blonde, Summer'n Saison, Furloughktoberfest '09, Grateful Pale Ale, Sam Adams Cream Stout Clone, EdWort's Apfelwein
Planning: n/a

Chello

Recipes 

Sounds normal to me. I'v had beers take several weeks to finish out, where as others have taken less than 48 hours.

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uechikid

Recipes 

I used WLP 001 yeast.
Thanks for putting me at ease.

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SavageSteve

Recipes 

According to White Labs, 65 deg. F. is a bit lower than the optimal temperature for that yeast, so that would probably explain the slower fermentation.

-Steve

__________________
On Deck: Jamil's Vanilla Robust Porter
Fermenting: Orange Blossom Mead
Kegs: Element 56 Pale Ale, Ron's Belgian Blonde, Summer'n Saison, Furloughktoberfest '09, Grateful Pale Ale, Sam Adams Cream Stout Clone, EdWort's Apfelwein
Planning: n/a

uechikid

Recipes 

It was my understanding that a small amount of heat is generated during the fermentation proses. That's why I have the fridge set at 65.

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SavageSteve

Recipes 

But since you're actively cooling the fermentation, then your beer is probably near 65-- maybe 67 or 68. Any heat generated by the fermentation will warm the refrigerator up, which will activate the cooling cycle. Depending on the temperature swing of the thermostat, the beer is probably fermenting a few degrees warmer than the set point, but probably lower than if you weren't actively cooling it.

If you're using an external thermostat with a temperature probe on the carboy or in the beer, then you're definitely very close to the 65 deg. F. set point.

-Steve

__________________
On Deck: Jamil's Vanilla Robust Porter
Fermenting: Orange Blossom Mead
Kegs: Element 56 Pale Ale, Ron's Belgian Blonde, Summer'n Saison, Furloughktoberfest '09, Grateful Pale Ale, Sam Adams Cream Stout Clone, EdWort's Apfelwein
Planning: n/a

uechikid

Recipes 

Thanks for your imput. I think I'll leave it at 65.

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twistedbrew

Recipes 

Does having a longer fermentation have any direct impact or known change in flavor to the brew?

So if you were to keep the brew cooler to slow down the fermentation what sort of effect does this have on the final brew?

Nurmey

Recipes 

It improves the flavors but not because it's slow, it is because of the lower temperatures.

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