Strong scotch ale yeast and fermentation questions

[pkpdogg]

Hi all. With things cooling down outside, I decided to take a stab at a strong scotch ale to take advantage of cooler fermentation temps and have a few general questions for those of you who are experienced with this style. As some quick background, I pitched with White Labs WLP028 Edinburgh Scottish Ale yeast and have been fermenting between 56 and 58 deg-F.

1) I see a lot of scotch ale recipes using the Irish Ale yeast strains instead of Scottish Ale. Any major differences you know of between the strains? Preferences?

2) If you haven't hit your desired final gravity, how long can you leave it in primary? I recall reading suggestions that in general, you don't want to leave it in primary for more than four weeks, and wasn't sure if there is an exception for scotch ales (and possibly lagers?) due to the lower fermentation temps.

3) I can see significant flocculation. With the yeasties going to town, how do you prevent them from fermenting past your desired final gravity? Cold crash? I assume racking to secondary while they're partying it up will still transfer a lot of them over and continue fermenting?

Thanks, and Happy Turkey Day!!!
Mike

 

[Nateo]

1) I think a lot of recipes used the Irish ale strain because it has been available for longer than the scotch strain. I've only used the scotch strain for scotch ales, and they turn out pretty close to the import ales you can buy from scotland.

2) I've heard of people leaving beer in primary for months, like 3-4. You can always try rousing if you're having trouble hitting your FG

3) Your mash schedule should prevent the yeast from going past your FG. I'd worry about bottle bombs if you crash the yeast before its "done." One option is to do a forced/fast ferment test on the wort initially to test the limit of attenuation.

 

[bolts]

I was just wondering this same question about fermentation temps. I'll give this a bump.

I'm about to brew a HoTD Adam clone (1.094 OG) with Wyeast 1728. I'm wondering how this is going to attenuate at lower temps (60 - 62) given my house is a bit cool these days.

How is your beer doing pkpdogg?

 

[rockfish42]

Supposedly the white labs version wlp028 doesn't ferment well below 62 F. The wyeast description gives much lower temps.

 

[sagnew440]

I had my wlp028 stall out on my RIS @1.038 at 60 deg. Warmed it up a little and roused up some yeast and it took back off. Slow fermenter though.

 

[pkpdogg]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! Looks like I need to study up more on the mash contents to learn more about fermentables and which grains will leave that tasty residual sugar. Specs on WLP028 suggested fermenting at 60-75, but I went low due to other readings I've done on scotch ale fermentation. Lookin good so far ... just need a reading.

How is your beer doing pkpdogg?

It's going rather well. It took a few days to get started, but kicked into gear with a krausen about an inch high and little flocculation. I usually worry bout blowoff, but this one's nice and steady with that one-inch krausen. A week in, I could see significant flocculation and it has been that way since (now three weeks into primary). I typically rack after three weeks, which is why I'm curious now if I can let it keep going without introducing off flavors. I should have done a starter to help move it along quicker.

BTW, this is the Skull Splitter recipe from the 200 Clone Brews book with slight mods. I want this sucker to settle down so I can steal a taste during the gravity reading. =D