Wyeast 1214

Hey all, I just brewed my first batch this past Sunday and pitched this yeast around 1pm on Sunday...I have read that this can be a slow starting yeast, so I didn't worry when I saw no action yesterday. Lo and behold, I check on the fermenter today and the airlock is bubbling away, and it looks like there is around an inch or so of krausen remnants on the inside of the bucket above the liquid line.

I have my thermometer in the room (spare bathroom in basement) and the temperature is staying right around 65 degrees, give or take a couple of degrees. The pouch said that the yeast worked best between 68 and 74 (roughly, I threw out the package already), but I thought I could minimize the banana type flavors if I kept the temperature a bit on the cooler side....any concerns with this approach?

My plan is to let the yeast do its thing for 2 weeks from brew day, and then check the gravity. I ended up slightly above the OG....expected was 1.058, and I was at 1.060 which I figured was good enough for my first attempt. The anticipated FG is 1.016, so I will be looking for something close to that.

Anything else I'm missing? Just planning on looking in on the fermenter every day to ensure no blowoffs or anything...

Sorry for the huge post, but wanted to make sure I was on the right track!

Thanks!

Kevin

Sounds like a good plan. I'd suggest you buy one of those stick on fermometers that go on the side of the fermenter. That will give you a fairly accurate idea of the ACTUAL fermentation temp. The Actual temp can be much higher then the room temp as the ferment makes it's own heat. Temp control is very important in making great beer. Especially with a strongly flavored strain like the one your using.

Keep in mind that fermentation gives off a lot of heat - the temperature of the fermenting beer may be up to 10*F higher than the ambient temperature. I suggest picking up some of the fermometer strips to stick on the side of your fermenters to monitor the actual fermentation temps.

For optimal fermentation conditions you should also consider making a yeast starter on your next batch as described here. Unfortunately these "pitchable" vials and smack packs don't really have enough yeast to ensure an optimal fermentation with bigger beers, like yours is at 1.060.

I've never used this yeast, but I've heard it can be good practice to raise the fermentation temps nearing the end of fermentation to ensure complete attenuation. In Brewing Classic Styles, Jamil recommends pitching at 64 when making Belgian-style blondes ales with this yeast and letting the fermentation temperature rise to 68 by the end of fermentation.

toman8r said:

Keep in mind that fermentation gives off a lot of heat - the temperature of the fermenting beer may be up to 10*F higher than the ambient temperature. I suggest picking up some of the fermometer strips to stick on the side of your fermenters to monitor the actual fermentation temps.

For optimal fermentation conditions you should also consider making a yeast starter on your next batch as described here. Unfortunately these "pitchable" vials and smack packs don't really have enough yeast to ensure an optimal fermentation with bigger beers, like yours is at 1.060.

I've never used this yeast, but I've heard it can be good practice to raise the fermentation temps nearing the end of fermentation to ensure complete attenuation. In Brewing Classic Styles, Jamil recommends pitching at 64 when making Belgian-style blondes ales with this yeast and letting the fermentation temperature rise to 68 by the end of fermentation.

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+1 on making a starter. That is very important for using liquid yeast. Next time make a starter.

The point about attenuation I would not worry so much about. At least not on your first batch. Just keep it in mind for the future. He's definitely right about getting the temps up towards the end of fermentation but the good news is the yeast will raise the temp on their own. Also, this is only a 1.060 so I think you should have no problems getting good attenuation. Very high gravity beers like 1.080 and up really push the yeast to the limits and you will need every trick in the book to get the type of attenuation expected in a true to style Belgian.

I had debated whether or not to make a starter, and after consulting with a few people on here, we came to the conclusion that it would be one less thing for me to mess up with my first batch. In the future, I definitely plan on making starters, I just tried to follow the K.I.S.S. philosophy for this batch!