Fermentation temps: to change or not to change?

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xkred27

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Hello all!

Here's my situation: I currently have a porter and dubbel feeding WLP051 Cali V (66-70F) and WLP550 Belgian Ale (68-78F), respectively. The fermenter is at 68F. Tomorrow I will be adding an amber with Wyeast 1764 Pacman. Regardless of what Wyeast says, the online concensus for the Pacman temperature range seems to be 52-72F. 68F puts Pacman in fruity territory (right?), which I'm not too crazy about. In two weeks I will be bottling the porter and dubbel, at which time I can lower the fermentation temp. So here's my question: will lowering the temp after two weeks have any effect on the ester profile of the amber, or is it too late to make a difference at that point? I generally let my brews sit in the primary for 4 weeks, then bottle.

Thanks!
 
Your ester profile is pretty well set within the first 3 days of fermentation...give or take. If the other beers have hit their FG than don't worry about dropping temp for the Pacman as that will be the one where temp is critical. However, if they have not hit FG dropping the temp could cause the yeast to hang their hats up and then you would have a stuck fermentation situation which isn't a good day.
 
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