Looking for a yeast that would ferment well at my ambient temperature?

[wwww.potatocol]

I'm finally looking into beer making after serval successes with wine/mead making. As I've been researching more about beer I've noticed temp control is incredibly important. Since I don't really have a lot of means to control temp at the moment I was curious to see what yeast strains would be best for temps around 70-73°. Much thanks

 

[Protos]

My opinion is that at 70-73F (21-23C) practically any yeast would make a decent beer, although most styles will acquire more estery flavour than when fermented cooler.
Then it depends of your preferences, whether you like estery beers or not. Me, I like complex ester aromas and flavours in my beers, so I don't much fret about fermenting as cool as possible.
I believe, keeping a stable consistent temperature and avoiding wild temp swings is more important. Stable warm fermentation just increases esters while temp swings (at any temperature regimen) may stress your yeast and bring out very unpleasant compounds like excessive acidity, burnt-rubber-like phenolics etc.

The yeast strains traditionally thought to be suitable for warm fermenting are most Belgian yeasts, including Saison, and also Nordic Farmhouse yeasts (Kveiks).

It's better to no not go warmer than 74F/23C as some yeasts may produce fusel alcohols at that temperature. Some yeasts however (Saison, Kveik) aren't prone to fusel production even at temps much higher than that.

 

[Miraculix]

My advice would be to put your fermenter in a waterbath, to increase the thermal mass. That way, the yeast doesn't heat up the brew during peak fermentation as much as it would without it. Then go with Nottingham or us05 for a cleaner beer or maybe add some more expressive yeast if you want a classic English style for example.

Biggest question is, what type of beer are you after?

 

[uweschmitt]

My advice would be to put your fermenter in a waterbath, to increase the thermal mass. That way, the yeast doesn't heat up the brew during peak fermentation as much as it would without it. Then go with Nottingham or us05 for a cleaner beer or maybe add some more expressive yeast if you want a classic English style for example.

Biggest question is, what type of beer are you after?

Isn't notty famous for not tasting good at higher temps but being clean at lower temps < 17C? So I think US05 might be a safer choice here, especially for a beginner.

 

[seatazzz]

If you can get it, Omega Lutra (available in both liquid and dry forms) is a great yeast for fermenting clean beers at higher temperatures. It is a Norwegian farmhouse yeast that was bred to ferment well at higher temperatures, without producing any of the undesirable esters that more traditional yeasts (or even some of the more traditional kveiks) can throw. Very forgiving at higher temperatures, and flocculates (drops) out clean for the most part. I wouldn't suggest it for hoppier beers, but for something like a blonde, or even a porter or stout where you are not going for hoppiness it does great.

 

[hotbeer]

I too think most any ale yeast will work for you. I use US-05 and S-04 quite a bit with just ambient temps around 69 - 71°F. Stability is more important than the actual temp. And most ale yeast have a upper end temp for their ideal range in the mid 70's or there about.

Some yeast give distinctly different flavors and aromas when fermented at the the high end of their ideal temp range than they do when kept at the lower end of their ideal range.

So your results with the same recipe might not be what another gets that uses a lower ferment temp.

 

[wwww.potatocol]

Thank you guys for all the help. I'm going to have to experiment a bit and see exactly what I like. I might try a few kveik yeasts and see how they do.

 

[Nixter]

I have a special fermentation tee-shirt from days of old. Would stick my glass carboy in a bucket with ice and covered the whole thing with the that same teeshirt soaked and re-soaked every few hours. Did a great job of bringing temps into US-05's optimal range -71ish. Has to be a green tee-shirt- never had a bad brew with a green shirt.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Low-ABV session ales (~1.038-50) will likely be more successful than big beers at the high end of any particular yeast strain. A) They don't heat up as much. B) They are generally less likely to throw fusels.*

*High esters can be less then desirable. Fusels taste like rocket fuel and give a headache as if you drank same.

 

[hottpeper13]

I've used Lutra at 68*, 76* and 86*, all were mashed between 150 and 154 all finished at 1.010. Not lagers but clean ales,my Munich Dunkel recipe with Lutra was the best brown ale ever! It mutes both hops and malt. My suggestion is to use Munich malt ,Biscuit, Aromatic to boost flavor. They still need time in the lagerator to condition and were at there best at 6 weeks GtoG. They were put on tap at 4 weeks and were good but the flavors got more distinct at 6 weeks.