Why do people continue to try and cold ferment ale yeast?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
A very strange question.

At any rate, the answer is because (in the case of Safale-05 [and perhaps PacMan, too], for example) the yeast exhibits some interesting characteristics fermented at near lager temps. I've posted about this over the past few weeks, but Safale-05 has (for me, at least) far more interesting esters at the 55-60F range than the 67F+ range. Most posters here seem to think that this is too low and the yeast won't work. But it does work -- and it works incredibly well. Is it slower? Yeah -- fermentation takes about 24-48+ hours to get started. Safale-05 is a monster at cool temps -- incredible attenutation and great peach/tropical flavors that complement nearly everything I've used it for (stouts, black IPAs, brown ales, pale ales).

My new method is to 5-6 days @ 55-58F, and then 60-64F for the rest of the fermentation. I never secondary and leave everything in the primary for at least 21 days -- but sometimes as long as a month or a month and a half. It's slow to start, but I've had zero problems with attentuation. I'm guessing I could go even lower to start -- maybe 52F. I do give it extra O2 -- I blast it for about 3 mins initially and then another 2 mins after 12 hours. I know these temps stress the yeast, and I found that my initial batches -- without the double dose of O2 -- have definite signs of yeast stress -- weird, off-flavors and a sweet fruitiness that does not go away no matter how long in the bottle. But the O2 blasts seemed to help with the stress and what I end up with now is a definite -- but nicely understated -- peach/mango/apricot flavor that's there but not overwhelming at all.

I've spent the past six months working with Safale-05 nearly exclusively, and with the exception of some specialized beers -- hefes, belgians, kolsch -- it gives far more *interesting* flavors at cool temps. I'm doing a pumpkin ale right now -- amber ale w/real pumpkin -- and I've been fermenting it for the past week at 55F. The smell is incredible -- pumpkin pie with a definite tropical edge. I don't know what it's going to taste like -- I mashed at 155F -- but I'm hoping for something very desert-like and intense.

So we'll see.

Give cool ale fermentation a try and see what happens. You'll be mighty surprised -- especially with 05. I know PacMan is a variation of 05, so I suspect PacMan might be even more interesting. It's not some "newbie" thing. It's definitely interesting, and the results are unusual enough -- and tasty enough -- to surprise nearly everyone.
 
I'm actually in the middle of my own experiment with fermenting ale yeast at cooler temps. (and Yooper is my heroine ;) )

I brewed up a "Dead Guy" clone (partial mash) and pitched some WLP 001 (made a starter, the yeast was good). Sat the carboy in the swamp cooler and threw in some frozen water bottles. Keeping the temps around 64.

Within 24 hours I had active fermentation, and throwing caution to the wind I tossed in the captured Pacman I had started 48 hours earlier (there was a nice thick layer of yeast in the flask. Love that Wyeast yeast nutrient).

Still fermenting in the low 60s, 10 days later, the airlock is STILL bubbling and the yeast appear to be chugging along.

Did I overpitch? Maybe.. maybe not.

Will this be drinkable? I hope so!

Part of what I love about homebrewing is experimentation.

What I'm hoping for is a drinkable, tasty brew and some nice Frankenyeast that has a nice clean profile I can use in a future project.

Would be fun to try a malty delight such as a doppelbock with an ale yeast fermented cold.
 
Back
Top