I have been brewing for many years, all ales. I never had a fermentation chamber, so my general goal was to keep the temps steady with a target of 65F being "good" and below 60F and above 72F being "bad". Just two weeks ago I got a used freezer for a fermentation chamber. Now that I can actually control temps, I realize I don't actually know optimal ale fermentation temps.
I brewed my first batch using the chamber with a general schedule of 1 week at 64F, 5 days at 68F, 2 days cold crash at 38 F. This was a split batch with WLP001 California Ale and WLP028 London Ale. The fermentation went well and the beer seems tasty (just kegged yesterday).
I just stuck a stout into the chamber with a pitch of WLP028 (edit WLP013) London Ale and set the chamber to 64F. The White Labs site says Optimum Fermentation temps for WLP013 are 66F to 71F. For WLP001 it says 68F to 73F. Is 64F "too cold" for WLP013?
I guess I always had this general idea that for most ale yeasts around 60F ferment slower and cleaner, around 70F ferment faster with more character, and around 65F was a sweet spot. Is there validity to this? In "How to Brew", Palmer recommends a temp boost around day 3 or 4 of 5F to 10F. This seems more extreme of a raise and earlier in the process than what I expected.
I searched around and did not find any good discussion...though I am feeling like the 65F to 70F range that I normally got in my basement without the chamber was pretty good. How much is it "optimal" vs "preference"?
I brewed my first batch using the chamber with a general schedule of 1 week at 64F, 5 days at 68F, 2 days cold crash at 38 F. This was a split batch with WLP001 California Ale and WLP028 London Ale. The fermentation went well and the beer seems tasty (just kegged yesterday).
I just stuck a stout into the chamber with a pitch of WLP028 (edit WLP013) London Ale and set the chamber to 64F. The White Labs site says Optimum Fermentation temps for WLP013 are 66F to 71F. For WLP001 it says 68F to 73F. Is 64F "too cold" for WLP013?
I guess I always had this general idea that for most ale yeasts around 60F ferment slower and cleaner, around 70F ferment faster with more character, and around 65F was a sweet spot. Is there validity to this? In "How to Brew", Palmer recommends a temp boost around day 3 or 4 of 5F to 10F. This seems more extreme of a raise and earlier in the process than what I expected.
I searched around and did not find any good discussion...though I am feeling like the 65F to 70F range that I normally got in my basement without the chamber was pretty good. How much is it "optimal" vs "preference"?
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