fermentation temp: Recipe vs. Packet...?

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ayupbrewing

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Hi all,

Im very new to this, in fact just got my first baby in the primary this weekend. Its fermenting away nicely in the closet, thanks to the American Ale 1056 yeast, between 66-72°F (low to high) according to the temperature strip on the carboy. I have 3 questions;

1) The recipe says to ferment at 68-72°F and the manufacturer of the yeast says ferment between 60 - 72°F. So obviously i'm at the top end of the scale and was wondering if i am risking harsh off/ester flavours?

2) Anyone done a brew at the top side of the ferment range and had bad/good experience?

3) Does anyone know how accurate those temp strips really are? ie compared to maybe a floating thermometer in the carboy during ferment?

Thanks
Julian
 
At that temp range, you should be fine. I only got in trouble once in 12 batches when I fermented near 80 on a trippel. I'm still paying the price for that one every time I draw from the keg as that is what I have left from the warm summer fermenting season. Congrats on your first go, be careful, it's addicting.
 
ayupbrewing said:
1) The recipe says to ferment at 68-72°F and the manufacturer of the yeast says ferment between 60 - 72°F
Click to expand...

So, I have the exact same question, although I've found a scenario in which the overlap is much smaller:
Morebeer.com's dunkelweizen extract kit ingredient list suggests 62-66 F fermentation temperature.
The Wyeast 3068 - Weihenstephan calls for 64-75 F fermentation temperature.

I'm inclined to go with the yeast mfg. recommendation, but I have read others who recommend a cold fermentation for german wheat beer.

Thanks,
Andy
 
anbowden said:
So, I have the exact same question, although I've found a scenario in which the overlap is much smaller:
Morebeer.com's dunkelweizen extract kit ingredient list suggests 62-66 F fermentation temperature.
The Wyeast 3068 - Weihenstephan calls for 64-75 F fermentation temperature.

I'm inclined to go with the yeast mfg. recommendation, but I have read others who recommend a cold fermentation for german wheat beer.

Thanks,
Andy
Click to expand...

I always suggest going with the information from the yeast manufacturer's website (it's really good info), and then going at the bottom range of what they suggest. For example, when they suggest "64-75", you typically will get a "cleaner" beer at 64, and some fruity flavors at 75, depending on the yeast strain. For the Weihenstephan strain, you tend to get "clove" at 64, and "banana" at 75. So I'd go with 64!

Right now I have WLP001 fermenting at 63 degrees, but White Labs' info is to have it 68-73! The thing is- I LIKE it at 63-65 degrees due to the ultra clean flavor I get from it at cooler temperatures. So experience is a great help with deciding fermentation temperatures.

One thing to keep in mind as a general rule of thumb is that for ale yeast, cooler is almost aways better than warmer. If you have a choice, always lean toward the cool end. It'd have to be under 62 degrees (or even cooler for some ale yeast strains) to be too cool. But since fermentation itself produces heat, it's very easy to be too warm!
 
Yooper said:
I always suggest going with the information from the yeast manufacturer's website (it's really good info), and then going at the bottom range of what they suggest. For example, when they suggest "64-75", you typically will get a "cleaner" beer at 64, and some fruity flavors at 75, depending on the yeast strain. For the Weihenstephan strain, you tend to get "clove" at 64, and "banana" at 75. So I'd go with 64!

Right now I have WLP001 fermenting at 63 degrees, but White Labs' info is to have it 68-73! The thing is- I LIKE it at 63-65 degrees due to the ultra clean flavor I get from it at cooler temperatures. So experience is a great help with deciding fermentation temperatures.

One thing to keep in mind as a general rule of thumb is that for ale yeast, cooler is almost aways better than warmer. If you have a choice, always lean toward the cool end. It'd have to be under 62 degrees (or even cooler for some ale yeast strains) to be too cool. But since fermentation itself produces heat, it's very easy to be too warm!
Click to expand...

So for the Weihenstephan, we get "clove" at 64 and "banana" at 75 degrees, but can you give me similar examples for other yeasts or beer types?
You mention the cooler temperatures results in "ultra clean flavor", would you mind elaborating?

Thanks,
Andy
 
anbowden said:
So for the Weihenstephan, we get "clove" at 64 and "banana" at 75 degrees, but can you give me similar examples for other yeasts or beer types?
You mention the cooler temperatures results in "ultra clean flavor", would you mind elaborating?

Thanks,
Andy
Click to expand...

It's really yeast strain dependent. In general though, you get more esters (fruity flavors like apple, pear, plum, banana, bubblegum) at higher temps. Some yeasts, particularly Belgian and hefeweizen strains are more prone to ester production to begin with, so you can expect even more fruitiness from them at higher temps (above 70). These same begian and hefe strains also produce phenolic compounds (clove, pepper, spice). For these strains the lower temps will produce more phenolics (or, perhaps, the esters are not as prevalent so the phenolics are more noticeable).

American ale strains tend to be very clean in that they do not produce a lot of esters nor phenolics. Some ester production is inevitable, so even these strains can lend some fruitiness at high temps, though not much, and are generally very "clean". British ale yeasts tend to produce more esters than American strains, but less than Belgian strains, and do not produce much in terms of phenolics. British ales have more fruit notes in them.
 
Yooper said:
Right now I have WLP001 fermenting at 63 degrees, but White Labs' info is to have it 68-73! The thing is- I LIKE it at 63-65 degrees due to the ultra clean flavor I get from it at cooler temperatures. So experience is a great help with deciding fermentation temperatures.
Click to expand...

So isn't it a little risky to ferment 3-5 degrees below the lower limit given by the yeast mfg.? I'm guessing the risk is that the yeast will fall out early before they've finished fermenting the beer and you'd end with a high FG.
You mentioned that experience helps when selecting the fermentation temperature; did you do some trial and error to figure out where you like it best?

Thanks JLem on your explanation too!
 

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