Why Wait Hours To Pitch Yeast?

[Gustatorian]

I've read on several blogs that people will get oxygenate their wort and get it down to a pitch-able temp, then wait 30 minutes to hours to pitch. What is the reasoning behind this?

 

[GuldTuborg]

Are you sure it's that order, and not waiting for some times until the desired pitch temp is reached? Example?

 

[Gustatorian]

Are you sure it's that order, and not waiting for some times until the desired pitch temp is reached? Example?

Here's one example. http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2015/06/hop-juice-north-east-ipa-recipe.html Maybe I'm reading it wrong. 5 hours to chill 10 degrees is a lot of time though.

Is there any merit in pitching at a lower temp then raising the temp 2-3 degrees?

 

[sandyeggoxj]

No idea why you would wait. As soon as I hit my pitch temp I pitch and aerate.

 

[burninator]

I've heard of chilling to the 80's then placing your wort into a fermentation chamber until it reaches pitching temp.

 

[Double_D]

I've heard of chilling to the 80's then placing your wort into a fermentation chamber until it reaches pitching temp.

I have to do this in the warmer months. The ground water here just doesn't get cold enough to cool past the mid 80s.

 

[Gustatorian]

No idea why you would wait. As soon as I hit my pitch temp I pitch and aerate.

Do you find any advantage with pitching then aerating rather than aerating then picthing?

 

[jschein]

That refers to a sour, he pitched lacto @ 100 degrees. Not sure I don't make sours. Standard for regular brews is pitch at fermentation temp.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Do you find any advantage with pitching then aerating rather than aerating then picthing?

Just the way I've done it. Either way works fine I suppose. I hadn't thought about the order until you asked.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Here's one example. http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2015/06/hop-juice-north-east-ipa-recipe.html Maybe I'm reading it wrong. 5 hours to chill 10 degrees is a lot of time though.

Is there any merit in pitching at a lower temp then raising the temp 2-3 degrees?

Yes, it will often take that long to chill a full batch by 10 degrees (that's all he was waiting for). The bigger the batch the longer it takes due to reduced surface area to volume.

There are a lot of claims that pitching a few degrees below ferment temperature and allowing the beer to free-rise to ferment temp benefits yeast, giving a cleaner ferment. Pitching a few degrees warmer and cooling to ferment temps might stress yeast and cause a slower ferment. I suspect the different is probably minimal.

 

[Qhrumphf]

A) in your example, I'm 99% sure he's talking about letting it chill, and then presumably aerating and pitching.

B) Allowing the yeast to consistently warm rather than ever cooling speeds conditioning, aids reaching full attenuation faster, and reduces the potential for off-flavors. I typically chill a couple degrees below, allow it to free-rise during lag up to fermentation temp, hold it until the airlock slows towards the end of fermentation, and then raise it a couple degrees again. When using English yeasts, I'll combine a rousing of the yeast with that raise in temp.

C) Not only is it thermal mass, but the smaller the differential between wort temp and ambient temp, the longer it's going to take. Same way it works with an immersion chiller. It'll often take longer to get from 80F to 65F than it took you to get from 212F to 80F (at least that's how it is for me). Those last few degrees can take a very long time.

 

[GuldTuborg]

Here's one example. http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2015/06/hop-juice-north-east-ipa-recipe.html Maybe I'm reading it wrong. 5 hours to chill 10 degrees is a lot of time though.

Is there any merit in pitching at a lower temp then raising the temp 2-3 degrees?

Yeah, he specifically says that's time to chill. 5 hours in a chest freezer to drop 10 gallons by 10 degrees? Doesn't seem out of line. I doubt he was checking temps every 5 minutes.

 

[Zzyzx3]

Ditto to what other people are saying. He set his temp controller to 62 and left it for 5 hours to chill to 62. Once it hits the temp you want to pitch at, you can go ahead and pitch.