Temperature Progression

[ASantiago]

I'm working on refining the temperature progression for fermentations using a chest freezer and Johnson temp controller and wanted ya'll's opinion. In general terms, how is this?

A few notes apply:

• This is a generic "template" to be customized depending on the yeast strain and beer style. What I need right now is the general idea, something for your "average" (whatever that means) ale yeast.
• Understanding that only gravity measurements can tell when the fermentation is over, in this template I'm allowing for 2 weeks of mid-ale-yeast-temp fermentation and one week for post-fermentation "clean up and conditioning".
• I will be placing the yeast starter inside the freezer so it will be at the same temp as the wort before pitching.

Your thoughts?

 

[remilard]

That looks similar to what I do except:

1. I generally put the starter in the fridge and pitch the yeast straight from the fridge.
2. I raise the fermentation temp when the krausen drops, around day 3 for ales.
3. I keg as soon as the beer has cleared or on the next Saturday. For ales this is at the 1 or 2 week mark.
4. I chill in the keg. I may or may not then transfer to a second keg. If I think the keg will not be killed within a few months I might rather leave some yeast in there.

 

[Darpa17]

That looks fine... You can start the ales at colder temps if you like too. Higher fifties until the yeast utilize all the oxygen and minerals (Lag Stage). One you see signs of activity then you can push it up to 65 then 68.

Make sure to keep a space between the freezer floor and your fermenters as the temp will be colder and you'll get inconsistent temps.

I'm not sure if I helped with you question or not I was a little confused about what your asking.

 

[kanzimonson]

That's a pretty long time spent crash cooling - I just put the carboy in the fridge and let it coast on down. It usually takes about 36 hours. I'm sure your method yields healthier yeast at the end, but I don't have the patience to wait that long to drink!

 

[ASantiago]

That looks similar to what I do except:

1. I generally put the starter in the fridge and pitch the yeast straight from the fridge.

I used to put the starter in the fridge too. But I'd heard or read that yeast reproduce best at 72F. So when I got the chest freezer/controller, I went with doing the starter at that temp, from pitching of the initial culture to pitching the higher yeast count into the wort.

 

[ASantiago]

That looks fine... You can start the ales at colder temps if you like too. Higher fifties until the yeast utilize all the oxygen and minerals (Lag Stage). One you see signs of activity then you can push it up to 65 then 68.

Make sure to keep a space between the freezer floor and your fermenters as the temp will be colder and you'll get inconsistent temps.

I'm not sure if I helped with you question or not I was a little confused about what your asking.

I've thought about starting colder, but I'm wondering how much time that will add to the fermentation. My process is already long as it is.

As far as inconsistent temps goes, yep, grappling with that. At the moment, I'm placing the fermenter directly on the floor.

Sorry if my question was confusing. You came up with exactly what I'm looking for: feedback on the process.

 

[ASantiago]

That's a pretty long time spent crash cooling - I just put the carboy in the fridge and let it coast on down. It usually takes about 36 hours. I'm sure your method yields healthier yeast at the end, but I don't have the patience to wait that long to drink!

Heh heh... Indeed... it's a long time. You gotta have a nice pipeline already going to have the patience for longer times.

I do it that way under the impression that clearing will take a while anyway and that dropping the temp slowly yields, as you indicated, healthier yeast for harvesting (i.e., they have time to prepare for going dormant).

I could be wrong, though...

 

[ASantiago]

By the way, the main purpose of this is repeatability by eventually developing a collection of temp progression profiles for different yeasts and styles (the way it's done with water and mash profiles). That way I can just pick a specific profile and go with it and if the beer comes out good, I can ferment it the same way again, at least from the perspective of temp profile, assuming all other factors equal (sanitation, IBUs, malts, etc).