Hi all!
I’m attempting to catch up on all 1,800+ posts on this thread and I’m curious about the current best practices.
I’ve attempted this twice with two similar Festbier recipes and while they were both ok, they had two noticeable off flavors. The first had fusels (I fermented at 66F and pitched it as if it were an ale) and the second had a fair amount of acetaldehyde (green apple). Both were fermented with 34/70.
What is everyone doing as far as process and fermentation schedule these days?
Thanks and cheers!
I have settled on 55°F for Lagers and 65°F for Ales. These are wort temps via a thermowell …not ambient temps. Using these temps I am usually SG to FG in 5 +/- 1 day. I am usually grain to glass in ~21+ days.
My timelines and temps are based on this:
Fermenting lagers in 21 days except I pitch and ferment at 13°C using the CO2 generated by the ferment to purge the keg I’ll transfer to.
…then I close transfer to a keg with a cpl points to go and spunding valve to finish at 55°F for 7 days for Lagers and 65°F for Ales. I like to close transfer to a CO2 purged keg with yeast still in suspension so it can consume any O2 I inadvertently pickup during the xfer while at secondary temps.
…then I reduce temp to 32°F to cold condition for 7+ days. The beer rests at this temp until I need the keg (~21+ days grain to glass).
in regards to off flavors: I recommend pitching plenty of healthy yeast. Even though the Lager ferment is warm I recommend pitching at ‘Lager rates’. For example, in a 4.5 gal 1.050 wort, 55°F ferment, I will pitch 22 grams W34/70 or a comparable volume of harvested yeast slurry via a ‘shaken not stirred’ starter.
…also, since fermentation is exothermic, expect to control fermenter temps +/- 2°F.
Despite what home brewers on the internet say, one 11 gram package of dried yeast is rarely recommended by the mfr’s guidelines for 5 gal of wort. Fermentis guideline: .5-.8 grams per liter for Ales and .8-1 gram per liter for Lagers. Likewise, rarely is one 11g pack recommended by the Lallemand pitch rate calculator or the pitching rate rule of thumb.
I recommend a pitch rate calculator but a quick rule of thumb for pitching rate is 6 grams of Ale yeast and 12 grams of Lager yeast per gravity points divided by 25 in a 5 gal batch. (Gravity points / 25)*6 or 12= pitch rate in grams.
I used to experience really long lag times, sluggish fermentation, and attenuation all over the map until I began using the yeast per the mfr instructions.
here’s an example of a pitch rate calculation: