Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) Temperature Questions

Hi,

I have an Irish Red Ale in the primary, using Wyeast 1056 (American Ale). I pitched it around noon on Friday, so it's been going for approximately 3 days, 6 hours.

On my last several beers, I've been holding the fermentation temperatures on the low end until the yeast activity really starts to drop off, then letting it rise to room temperature, which has been around 70 degrees. The Wyeast site says the temperature range for this yeast is 60-72F. They also say it will produce mild citrus notes with cooler (60-66F) fermentation, so I've had it running at 63 degrees.

I was already seeing krausen and blow-off activity on Friday night. By Saturday night it was producing 48 bubbles/minute in my 1/2" ID blow-off tube. That dropped to 32 per minute on Sunday night and now it's down to 17 per minute.

I have two questions. First, since the activity is only about a 1/3 of what it was at the peak, is it time to start letting it warm up or should I hold it a while longer (and if so, how long)? Second, since our weather has been warming up some, our basement is now running about 73 degrees - is that going to be too warm for a yeast that wants 60-72?

Thanks for your advice!

73 is too warm. Second, bubbles don't mean jack. Take a gravity reading if you want to see how the progress is going. If you can see through your fermenter then just take more gravity readings to see how things are going.

sandyeggoxj said:

73 is too warm. Second, bubbles don't mean jack. Take a gravity reading if you want to see how the progress is going. If you can see through your fermenter then just take more gravity readings to see how things are going.

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I realize bubbles won't tell me when the fermentation is done, but between the bubble activity and looking at the krausen, I can get a fair idea as to how active the process is. I generally don't take gravity readings until I swap out the blow-off tube with an airlock, which I usually do after 5-7 days, depending on activity.

Is 70 degrees an acceptable temperature to let a yeast like this finish? I just filled a couple of my ice jugs half full and put them in the freezer. I've never tried to hold my fermentation chamber just a few degrees below room temp. I know a full half-gallon jug of ice will cool it more than that.

Thanks for your help!

I ferment 1056 at about 64 degrees. I do not raise the temperature at all unless I take the fermenter out of the chamber to make room for another. I have always had good results.

Are your temperatures ambient or directly measuring the wort? As you may know, during active fermentation the wort temperature may be quite a bit higher than ambient.

I'm in the practice of wrapping a wet towel around my car boys to do ales. 73 is pushing it slightly, even during the yeast cleanup phase, but probably won't affect it much. Give it extra time, that'll help. I'd do the wet towel thing, as well, to be safe.

kh54s10 said:

I ferment 1056 at about 64 degrees. I do not raise the temperature at all unless I take the fermenter out of the chamber to make room for another. I have always had good results.

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I started fermenting at the lower temps a few batches ago, and was told that the yeasts on both of those could stall toward the end if I didn't let the temperature rise. I can continue to hold it down if the 1056 doesn't have that issue.

RichBenn said:

Are your temperatures ambient or directly measuring the wort? As you may know, during active fermentation the wort temperature may be quite a bit higher than ambient.

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I have a son-of-a-fermentation chamber that I built. The thermostat has been modified so the temperature sensor is on a wire and can be taped right to the side of the fermenter with a piece of neoprene over it. So I'm getting a good wort temperature. I usually have to run two to three half-gallon ice jugs at the start, to hold temp when it's really active. It's at the point now where one jug is doing fine.

I don't know if 1056 is any different than others as far as stalling. I do not make any effort to raise the temperatures of any yeast that I have used. As far as I know I have never had a stalled fermentation. I always make a properly sized starter.

64-65*F beer temp is a pretty well-established "sweet spot" 001, US-05, 1056 and BRY-97. After a drop off in activity, it's fine to let it free rise up towards 70*F to encourage by-product clean up for a few days. Or you can simply leave it in the mid-60's.

There are some strains (like 002/1968ESB) that it's important to ramp up 4-5*F out of the initial 63-64*F range once they settle down. Otherwise they can drop out prematurely and are difficult to rouse off the bottom.

Taping your temp probe onto the side of your fermentor won't get you good temps of the middle of the wort. It may be fine for smaller batches but 10-15 gallons of wort get really warm from fermentation and it is a lot of liquid to say the outside is the temp of the middle.

I'd leave the yeast alone. If you pitched enough yeast the temps being stable will help. Yeast would rather have one set temp than multiple temps.

DurtyChemist said:

Taping your temp probe onto the side of your fermentor won't get you good temps of the middle of the wort. It may be fine for smaller batches but 10-15 gallons of wort get really warm from fermentation and it is a lot of liquid to say the outside is the temp of the middle.

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I do 5 gallon batches. Taping it to the outside may not be ideal, but it's the best way I have since I can't put a probe directly in the wort. I tape it about halfway up, so it should be getting an "average" temp. That sensor tells the thermostat when kick on the pc fan to blow in cool air from the ice chamber.

It was fluctuating between 62 and 63 this morning, with a little blow-off activity. I did not put in a new ice jug. I think I'll let it slowly rise to 65 and hold it there to finish.

Thanks for your help!

I ferment 1056 on the low end (well, mostly all yeasts) and too, raise the temp at the end of fermentation. I typically view this as when the krausen starts to drop. I dont see 73 at the end of fermentation as much of a problem. You are just trying to get the yeast to stay active and clean up byproducts finish attenuating. Off flavors are developed at the beginning of fermentation, so keeping the temp low for the first part of fermentation helps produce a clean profile.