Fermentation too cold? What will happen?

Hi All,
So, I have learned the hard way about warm fermentation in July. Now I am in the dead of winter in OH and my basement stays at a constant 59 degrees. The rest of the house fluctuates too much in temperature.

I have 3 fermenters going at the moment. Two of them are Wyeast 1056 - American(60-72 degrees), and 1 is Wyeast 1728 - Scottish(55-75 degrees).

So, my question is, what can I expect when I am at the bottom range of the recommended fermentation temperatures? Any off flavors, stuck fermentation etc... ?

Thanks!

Not with those yeasts, I don't reckon. 001 just took a Blonde I did from 1.054 to 1.008 in 2 days at 60 degrees.

You'll get a little bit of the smokey phenolic with the Scottish at that temperature, which I think is a good thing.

PseudoChef said:

Not with those yeasts, I don't reckon. 001 just took a Blonde I did from 1.054 to 1.008 in 2 days at 60 degrees.

You'll get a little bit of the smokey phenolic with the Scottish at that temperature, which I think is a good thing.

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I like 1056 at the low end of its fermentation range. It's "cleaner", almost lager like in character, with no notable esters. I haven't had any issues with attenuation with it, either.

I don't know about the Scottish, so I'll defer to pseudochef on that one!

YooperBrew said:

I like 1056 at the low end of its fermentation range. It's "cleaner", almost lager like in character, with no notable esters. I haven't had any issues with attenuation with it, either.

I don't know about the Scottish, so I'll defer to pseudochef on that one!

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Good, that's what I was going for with this Blonde, although I overshoot gravity, so my "session" beer is now 5.7% abv. I don't think I've used 001 for about a year or so until I brewed this!

I read something you posted in similar thread about your Denny's 50 being sluggish at the low temperature and I'm just reporting that it happened to me as well (around 60-62) - at two weeks I'm only around 60% attenutation - did yours finish out or is it still going?

the fermentation will take longer. if the temps drop to much the yeast could go dormant and fermentation will stop till things warm up again. but if your right and the temp says constant then you don't have to worry about that.

TipsyDragon said:

the fermentation will take longer. if the temps drop to much the yeast could go dormant and fermentation will stop till things warm up again. but if your right and the temp says constant then you don't have to worry about that.

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As I stated above, I have had no trouble with either of those yeasts at lower fermentation temperatures attenuating or becoming lengthy. If you are pitching the proper amount of healthy yeast, fermentation will be fine.

PseudoChef said:

Good, that's what I was going for with this Blonde, although I overshoot gravity, so my "session" beer is now 5.7% abv. I don't think I've used 001 for about a year or so until I brewed this!

I read something you posted in similar thread about your Denny's 50 being sluggish at the low temperature and I'm just reporting that it happened to me as well (around 60-62) - at two weeks I'm only around 60% attenutation - did yours finish out or is it still going?

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some "session" beer! But it sounds great!

The Denny's was sluggish, but finished well in the first beer. The AAA went from 1.065 to 1.015, which was perfect. The second one went from 1.055 to 1.015 (at the 60-61 degree range).

The Irish draught is now six days old, and it has gone from 1.055 to 1.018. It's sitting at 60 right now, and I'm considering raising the temp to 62-63 to see if I can coax a few more points out of it. The krausen is gone, but there are still some signs of fermentation- lots of bubbling, an almost "carbonated" appearance, and it's still cloudy. I think it'll finish where I'd like to see it at 1.013-1.014ish. Of course, I used a starter with washed yeast.

Since I just checked the SG of the Irish, I took a sample. Wow- it's going to have that "luscious" mouthfeel described in the literature for that yeast, even using a pound of honey in the recipe.

Anyway, I've used nottingham (dry yeast) sucessfully at 60 and a bit under, with great results, and the WLP001 and the Wyeast 1056 at 60 degrees.

Someone told me (was it you, pseudo?) that they got some peachy esters from S05 fermented below 63 degrees, but I'm trying it now with an AAA recipe. The s05 is bubbling along at 62 right now.

OK, that is a relief. Thanks for the input guys. I had a starter for each of the batches and the activity looks good up to this point.
Thanks again.

Yeah, I did get some peach from S-05 on the lowed end of the temp range. However, I'm not sure if it was a product of someone else telling me they tasted it as well. I have a pack laying around that I want to do a side-by-side with 001 to see if I can see a difference blind before I continue spouting off my dislike of S-05!

gregblatz said:

OK, that is a relief. Thanks for the input guys. I had a starter for each of the batches and the activity looks good up to this point.
Thanks again.

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You're welcome! Please report back on the results, since this seems to be something we Northerners have happen each winter.

PseudoChef said:

Yeah, I did get some peach from S-05 on the lowed end of the temp range. However, I'm not sure if it was a product of someone else telling me they tasted it as well. I have a pack laying around that I want to do a side-by-side with 001 to see if I can see a difference blind before I continue spouting off my dislike of S-05!

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I'll make notes on my cool S05 fermentation, and see if I can pick up any esters from the low temps. It's supposed to be a Bell's amber clone, and I used willamette and cascade, so I don't know if I'll pick up any even if they're there, to be honest.

So, just to follow up. All three beers pulled through just fine. No off flavor or stuck fermentation. The 1056 did great at the lower temperature and has a nice clean flavor. In fact, my IPA finished out dryer than I hoped at 1008. Obviously the colder temps were not a problem for it!

Yooper_Brew said:

I'll make notes on my cool S05 fermentation, and see if I can pick up any esters from the low temps. It's supposed to be a Bell's amber clone, and I used willamette and cascade, so I don't know if I'll pick up any even if they're there, to be honest.

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I'm curious to know if you did wind up taking note of that. I have an s05 'fizzy yellow beer' style ale bubbling away right now at around 62, I'm wondering what to expect.

The beer is ideally supposed to come out something like Labatt Blue, so a very slight fruitiness might actually play well with it.

bovineblitz said:

I'm curious to know if you did wind up taking note of that. I have an s05 'fizzy yellow beer' style ale bubbling away right now at around 62, I'm wondering what to expect.

The beer is ideally supposed to come out something like Labatt Blue, so a very slight fruitiness might actually play well with it.

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My notes do NOT show that I picked up on any "peach" esters at that temperature, but it could be that it was there and just covered by the combo of willamette/cascade in the late additions. It did have an earthy citrusness, which may have not allowed any separate yeast character to come through.

For my Fizzy Yellow Beer, I loved nottingham at 60 degrees. Make sure you report back on the S05 at 62 for that style!