During fermentation: Keep same temperature or slowly increase?

New(er) brewer here -

Most of what I've read says to keep the same temperature throughout fermentation. Which temperature used, depends on the yeast, ale/lager, etc.

Recently, I've come across people using fermentation temperature profiles where they slowly increase the fermentation temperature x degrees after n days.
Are these profiles a topic that some people swear by and other people don't see the need for?

I have two beers now fermenting, and I'm wondering whether to keep the current temperature or follow some existing profile (which profile though, I have no idea...). My default is to keep them in fermenter for 3-4 weeks at a constant temperature, then bottle.

Saison: currently 8 days at 74 degrees. Yeast: Belle Saison.
Red Ale: currently 6 days at 65 degrees. Yeast: Safale S-04.

Thoughts or rationale one way or another, to keep same temperature or slowly increase the temperature?

Thanks!

 

Crap. Wrong thread. Sorry


34/70 all the way. I use it quite a bit for steam lagers and set my ferm fridge to 62* and the beer is usually 67-68 at the height of fermentation. At homebrew scale, remember your beer is going to be 3-6 degrees warmer than ambient temp unless you rig up a fancy thermowell and controller. IMO, 34/70 is less estery at this range than the SF Lager yeasts from WYeast & WLP, and I prefer a low ester steam beer.

http://brulosophy.com/2016/02/08/fe...ager-yeast-saflager-3470-exbeeriment-results/

 

I keep mine in the fermentation chamber until the krausen drops flat. Then I take it out and let it warm to room temp to finish up if need be, or if I need the chamber again for a new batch.

You're pretty safe once krausen drops. The majority of rigorous fermenting is over.




Oh, and 3-4 weeks in the fermenter is most of the time not necessary.

 

I only rarely change the temperature of my chamber during fermentation. Sometimes, there's that one beer that you just want to get done a little quicker - since a lot of ester and off-flavor production happens in just the first few days (during the propagation phase of fermentation), that's when it's most critical to keep the yeast at its ideal temperature. After that, if you want the beer to finish up a little quicker, or if one's been "stuck" for a little bit, bumping the temp a couple degrees upward can be helpful. Similarly, especially for poorly-flocculating yeast, dropping that chamber down towards freezing post-fermentation can be really useful to speed clarifying of the beer.

 

I ramp mine up. I pitch at 65, raise it to 68, then get it up to 72 to dry hop. Cold crash 3 days before kegging. Might be unnecassary, but I have been getting great ferments from american and british ales with this method.

 

I always ramp up my temps. I've read somewhere (Yeast maybe?) that phenolics and esters are produced in the reproductive stage of the yeast lifecycle. So I generally begin fermentation cool and ramp up. Not that ales need a diacetyl rest, but I generally do a version of one prior to cold crashing. If there are some phenolics I WANT (in a Belgian, for example), I'll still start cooler but begin ramping up temps earlier. I still want most of fermentation completed before it gets too hot so I don't get any fusels.

 

Thank you for all the answers, it helps quite a bit!