Temps to use for Fermenting with Harvested Bell's Oberon Yeast

Hi all,

I'm brewing an American Pale Ale, and I'm planning on using yeast that was originally harvested from a bottle of Oberon (I have previously brewed an American Wheat with it.)

I was planning on fermenting at 65*, but I ran across a post in this thread with what seems to be the actual temps that Bell's ferments at. Here's the post:

Tonedef131 said:

Somewhere I have a pic that we took that was below their ferm temp control board that show the temps that they ferment at. The temps were as follows:

Hell Hath No Fury 78
Two Hearted 76
Winter White 74
Ales 72
Lagers 48-50

But like I said, all the ale yeast are the same exact strain...they just use the different temps to get the flavor profiles they want.

Click to expand...

So I'm wondering if anyone here has had success using this yeast strain, and what temps you used.

I'm also a little curious if I would get the best results fermenting at the same temps that the brewery does, or if the difference in batch size, pitching rates, etc. would yield differing results. I'm sure that the brewery has their processes dialed in pretty well, and so they know exactly how hard they can push the yeast without getting off flavors; it seems like it would be safer for me to ferment a little lower than those temps posted above just to make sure I don't screw anything up. Thoughts?

Thanks,

TD

I know this is a super old post but do you recall what you fermented at and the results?

I've used bells a lot in the past. Not recently because I've been using other yeasts. But I believe they ferment higher since conical put pressure on yeast that lower ester formation. I really like the yeast and the flavor it imparts. When I go on brewing hiatus it takes too much to build up cultures again.

I've used Oberon harvested dregs at 65 in a 2 hearted clone and it turned out really well.

I'm going to try a wheat beer with the dregs of Oberon and a little bit of Wyeast 3068 mixed together as I'm happy with my Hefe made with the Wyeast and I like Oberon. We'll see how this summer ale goes...

I recently used it to brew a NE IPA. I started at 66 for a 3 days and ramped up to 72 over the next6 days. It turned out very good. I would like to try it a bit warmer next time just to see. Maybe start at 68 and ramp to 74.

I cultured one bottle of Oberon dregs, stepped it up once and pitched a 1400ml starter into 5.4 gal of two hearted clone at 1.062. Started fermenting at 64 measured by my brew bucket probe. Ramped up to 68 over a week and it attenuated to 1.011. Tastes great. If you're tempted to ferment warm, I just wouldn't do it in the first 2 to 3 days. I would culture this again in a heartbeat because it's fresh and there's just so much yeast to start with in Oberon.

Bells ferments Oberon in the lower 70's. A clone I've done at 72* in a 14 gal conical with 10.5 gals will blow off. The higher temps give it the fruity taste, I believe.

I contacted bells via Twitter and they said 70-72. So I'm going to start it at 70 and ramp up to 72 over 5 days. I'll report how it turns out.