Fermentation Temperature for Bell's Two Hearted Ale

The latest recipe for Two Hearted Ale (TH) in Zymurgy was supposedly written by Bell's Production Manager. It calls for pitching yeast at 64 F. Then it goes on to say "Ferment warm (ale temperature)". Can one assume "warm" is the the pitching temperature they cited, or should it be warmer? The TH recipe in BYO's clone recipe edition calls for fermentation at 70F. That's a huge differerence.

I pitched a 2L starter of harvested TH yeast yesterday in a 10-gallon batch and it is currently fermenting at 64F, as measured with a thermowell probe. Just wondering if I need to bump up the temperature so it finishes at the correct FG and still gives me the yeast profile of TH.

I agree that "warm ale temperature" comment in the Zymurgy recipe is a bit confusing.

My uninformed guess would be to pitch at 64-degrees, let the most vigorous part of fermentation occur at 64-degrees, then slowly ramp up to 70-ish. This is what I plan on doing with my batch of Two Hearted this weekend anyways.

That's probably a good plan. I'll probably try the same. Based on airlock activity, the Bell's yeast don't seem to mind working at 64 F.

Reelale said:

That's probably a good plan. I'll probably try the same. Based on airlock activity, the Bell's yeast don't seem to mind working at 64 F.

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Let me know how this turns out! Bell's two hearted is one of my favorite beers.

Will do. I followed the mash and hop schedule from the article. The grain bill is from the clone that eschatz posted. We'll see.

It's my favorite too. Just picked up the last two sixers on the shelf at the grocery store. Seems like it's feast or famine here, sometimes it's just not available at all.

Update. I just kegged 5 gallons and bottled 5 gallons Friday. The kegged beer is actually very, very close. It's still carbonating. Hops flavor and aroma is right there, but the bitterness is a tad more biting than THA. I'll fix that with RO water next time. The ramped fermentation schedule seems to work great for this recipe. Pitch at 64 and gradually ramp-up to 70 towards the end. It's good! Can't wait to try a bottle-conditioned version.

Awesome. Can't decide if I want to do a pale ale or a TH IPA clone later on this year. Either way I will get some yeast going from Bells dregs, so this helps me out. Anyone else have a fermentation schedule?

Reelale said:

Update. I just kegged 5 gallons and bottled 5 gallons Friday. The kegged beer is actually very, very close. It's still carbonating. Hops flavor and aroma is right there, but the bitterness is a tad more biting than THA. I'll fix that with RO water next time. The ramped fermentation schedule seems to work great for this recipe. Pitch at 64 and gradually ramp-up to 70 towards the end. It's good! Can't wait to try a bottle-conditioned version.

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Very cool. Did you follow the Zymurgy recipe verbatim?

Seven said:

Very cool. Did you follow the Zymurgy recipe verbatim?

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Grain bill was from the clone recipe on here, although there wasn't much difference between the two. I followed the mash and hop schedule from the Zymurgy article.

I'm going to brew the Zymurgy version this weekend. Making a starter for it now.

I kegged my batch of Two Hearted just now. I followed the Zymurgy recipe exactly except I used WLP007 for the yeast. The hydrometer sample tasted fantastic and Beersmith said I got 80.6% attenuation.

I have used bells strain numerous times and I have no doubt that fermenting this ale yeast in the 72-74 degree range is what helps give two hearted and oberon it's slightly fruity esther profile. Pitch at 64 or so and let it rise.

I don't think that 001/1056 is a substitute for bells yeast at all. I would sub 1084, but thats just me.

Bottle-conditioned beer was even better than the kegged. I might have been getting some carbonic bite from the gas. The bottled version is so much smoother. It's very, very close to the original. Definitely will brew this again.

Thanks for the input, I just brewed up 10 gallons of this on Sunday. Pitched approx 4L of starter (stepped up from 8 bottles of Oberon dregs to 800 ml to 2000 ml then another 2000 mL) into the batch last night. I have the temp controller set at 63, and will raise it up a little over the next week.

I'll update here for results.

kpr121 said:

Thanks for the input, I just brewed up 10 gallons of this on Sunday. Pitched approx 4L of starter (stepped up from 8 bottles of Oberon dregs to 800 ml to 2000 ml then another 2000 mL) into the batch last night. I have the temp controller set at 63, and will raise it up a little over the next week.

I'll update here for results.

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Checked gravity this morning and it was at 1.036ish and both fermentors had a very large foamy krausen, temperature strip on side of fermentor read 64. I bumped the temperature controller up to 67. I imagine by this weekend it will be down around FG. I will probably set it around 70-72 to finish up and clean up after itself for the following week.

OG was 1.060 BTW.

I have just a few bottles left of the batch I brewed on Dec 18th. I thought mine was very close to Bells and was maybe even a tad frutier (but not much). Pitched and washed 1/3 of the yeast cake from my previous batch with Bells yeast.

My notes say I held the 2Hearted at 63 for a day, 64 for a day, 66 for 2 days, and then held 68-69 for 6 days to finish up. It was only vigorously fermenting at 68-69 for a day or two. Then it was just cleaning up. OG was 1.062, FG was 1.010, ~ 6.8%.

My wife wants me to brew another batch soon, and she doesn't really like hoppy beers. Long live the 2 Hearted!

See my post here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/bells-two-hearted-ale-clone-close-they-come-91488/index105.html#post5925473

The Bell's Brewery fermentation temperature schedule from a brewery tour video shows Two Hearted Ale at 76F, which was listed higher than their general ales listed at 72F

Hmm, well this is an old post, but I see the temps are a relevant part of the discussion. I watched that video, thanks! Me love Bells beer.

Having brewed a 2H clone twice using Bells yeast, I can say that fermenting in the mid 70's will have tons of esters that are not present in the original beer. Starting at 64 is perfect, but you need only raise the temps to 67 for lighter esters, maybe 68 to match the 2H, or 69 for slightly fruitier esters (though pleasant). And you only need to hit those temps in the last couple days of active fermentation.

I would venture their large vessel size with different geometry allows them to ferment at higher temps with less ester formation. Faster ferments with the higher temps allow them to pump the beer through. It was amazing that they got 16 batches a day done!