1056 yeast at 57F

I started a pale ale last week and the temps in my basement dipped way down and it was a 57F for the start of the fermentation (3 days). There was air lock activity but it never really took off.

I moved it over to the furnace room on day 4 and it went up to 65F and went crazy. So...any ideas if there will be a ton of off flavors from too cold of a ferment?

shouldn't be. the yeast will just go dormant when it gets too cold. you did the right thing and woke them up by warming them to get them fermenting

Off flavors from yeast are only at temps ABOVE their optimum range. At lower temps, the yeast actually ferment more slowly, but cleaner. Then, of course, each yeast strain has a low-end temp where they simply go dormant and don't ferment at all.

The 1056 yeast strain has an optimum temp of 60F-72F. Fermentation temps are typically 3-6 degrees WARMER than ambient temps, so if the ambient temp was 57, you were right on the low end of the optimum range.

Since you were getting airlock activity at 57, it was a good fermentation temp! It isn't particularly desirable to have the fermentation "take off," that slow, steady fermentation you had at 57 might have taken a few extra days, but it would have been a nice clean fermentation. The risk, of course, is being a bit TOO low and the yeast going dormant and not fermenting at all.

So, then at 65F, you were closer to the TOP of the optimum range, which is why things sped up. Heat is a catalyst to fermentation, but again, a cooler fermentation is cleaner than a warmer fermentation.

In the future, if you can hit +/- 1-2 degrees from the low number of the yeast's optimum temp (listed on the packaging or manu's website), you'll always have a steady, clean fermentation.

If your beer temp was 65F, that's near perfect for 1056... if ambient was 65F, that's a tad too warm as beer temps are typically warmer than ambient. Either way, 1056 is pretty forgiving, you should be fine!

I ferment most typical ale yeasts at 62F with a -3 degree diffential on my temp controller, so my temps are always 59-62F ambient temp.

TopherM said:

Off flavors from yeast are only at temps ABOVE their optimum range. At lower temps, the yeast actually ferment more slowly, but cleaner.

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I think this is true in general, but there is the occasional exception. Many brewers report S-23 to be less fruity at 60 than 50. I think I also read recently that 1056 is cleaner in the mid-60s than just under 60. I just did a batch of APA with 1056 around 57 degrees, but I haven't tasted it yet.

Definitely true that there are some style exceptions.

The others I can think of is Hefeweizen yeast is supposed to give off banana flavors at the low end of it's temp and clove flavors at the high end.

AND

Steam beer/California Common yeast is supposed to give off slight sulfery off flavors throughout its ideal range.

All of these particular off flavors are desireable parts of their particular styles.

osagedr said:

I think this is true in general, but there is the occasional exception. Many brewers report S-23 to be less fruity at 60 than 50. I think I also read recently that 1056 is cleaner in the mid-60s than just under 60. I just did a batch of APA with 1056 around 57 degrees, but I haven't tasted it yet.

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Scottish Ale from yeast at 48 gave an almost sweet tart like fruitiness

SwampassJ said:

Scottish Ale from yeast at 48 gave an almost sweet tart like fruitiness

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I love the Scottish ale just below the temperature range (53 F). Gives a really nice character. I am a little surprised it worked well down to 48 F. I always get concerned about attenuation. What was your apparent attenuation at 48 F? At 53 F, mine was around 69.8 %.

Ok thanks guys. I was worried about stressing the yeast by making them work at an unfavorable temp but perhaps I will end up with a pretty clean pale ale.

ColumbusAmongus said:

Ok thanks guys. I was worried about stressing the yeast by making them work at an unfavorable temp but perhaps I will end up with a pretty clean pale ale.

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You should be good. The dry version (US-05) for some reason likes to throw peach esters below 58 but I have never seen anyone mention the same for the liquid version 1056/001.

Biobrewer said:

I love the Scottish ale just below the temperature range (53 F). Gives a really nice character. I am a little surprised it worked well down to 48 F. I always get concerned about attenuation. What was your apparent attenuation at 48 F? At 53 F, mine was around 69.8 %.

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Golden Promise smash with the first runnings boiled down for an hour.
OG - 1.042
FG - 1.013
Apparent Attenuation - 68%

I also pitched it like a lager with about 400 billion yeast cells so that's probably the only reason it even worked out. If I use it again I will do it as a hybrid with temps in the mid-upper 50s. I didn't get any of the smokey character I've heard so much about when used cool.

I think wyeast says you may get some citrus notes from the yeast at cooler temps