First Hefe- Wyeast 3068

I'm brewing up my first hefe this weekend- using an extract kit from northern brewer- what's a good pitching/fermentation temp for this yeast strain?

This is also my first brew with a freezer/temp controller (yay, no more ice bath!). How much should I compensate for the increased internal temp during fermentation? Obviously, if I set my temp controller to 62, the beer would be a few degrees warmer- but by how much?

I've heard about 4 degrees is usually good, but I could be mistaken. As for pitching the yeast, every hefe I do I wait until it's about 70 to pitch then I place it in a 20 gallon tote bucket and fill it with water to try and hold the actually beer temp at 68 ish. I hear if you go to the 64 degree and below range you end up with the clove taste and higher temps the banana/bubblegum flavors. I shoot for the banana so I try and keep it between 68-70 degrees. Personal preference if you want to go lower I guess.

Yeah, I like to ferment mine around 66, just to tone down the banana a little. Like joeirvine said, lower and you'll get more clove, higher and you'll get more banana. I've found for my tastes, 66 is a nice blend of the two.

As far as the ferm chamber, where is your probe located? If you either use a thermowell or tape it to the side of the fermenter with a little bit of bubblewrap/washcloth/insulation over it, the probe should read the temp of the beer pretty well. In that case, you wouldn't really need to set your temp too much lower (maybe a degree or two if its on the outside, but I haven't checked it).

Also, just in case you haven't run across this info yet, that yeast can be a beast. Definitely make sure you've got plenty of head space, and set up a blow-off tube. You'd hate to dirty up your new ferm chamber right off the bat .

How do thermowells work in conjunction with blow off tubes?

I thought about ordering one, but it didn't seem like it would be much help in high gravity or otherwise high krausening beers

erikpete18 said:

Also, just in case you haven't run across this info yet, that yeast can be a beast. Definitely make sure you've got plenty of head space, and set up a blow-off tube. You'd hate to dirty up your new ferm chamber right off the bat .

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This is VERY sound advice!

Most of the time they're either used with a stopper with two holes in it or a carboy cap. I like the caps because I can fit a hose into the center hole with a chunk of cut up broken racking cane and slide the thermowell through the side hole, but I've also used the stoppers with a 3-piece airlock with a hose fitted to the center post. I'm assuming you've got carboys, I suppose if you had a bucket you could just drill a second hole in the lid for the thermowell.