At what temp. to abandon fermenters?

[JohnA]

In two days I unfortunately have to leave my fermenters for about three weeks. At what temperature should I set them?

Belgian Golden Strong: 64F ramping to 84F. Will be 7.5 days into fermentation.

English IPA: 68F. Will be 6.5 days old.

Blonde: 67F. Will be 5.5 days old.

I just started upping the temps. on the IPA and Blonde, but I probably don’t need to do that if I’m leaving them for so long? Once I return I’ll need to get them into kegs quickly for serving just a couple days later.

Thanks for any insights.

 

[VTMongoose]

You can just leave the temps where they are for the blonde and IPA, IMO. Just make sure the airlocks are topped off. The BGS, I would park it at 75° to finish up. Assuming you're using Duvel, it might still be creeping a tiny bit when you get back depending on how much you pitched.

 

[shoengine]

Time is one thing... what are their gravities, and how close to terminal? My experience is that when you have just a handful of points left, changes due to fermentation temperature tend to dwindle, especially with ale yeasts.

 

[JohnA]

I don’t have real gravity readings to report right now, just airlock action to base assumptions on.

BGS: very quiet. T-58
IPA: 10 seconds. Nottingham
Blonde: still 4-5 seconds, but it still has two days before I leave it. US-05

 

[Jag75]

I think you'd be fine setting towards the higher side of each yeasts recommendation. Being at a week into fermentation , your past the crucial time of temp swings.

 

[pvpeacock]

Why not just keg them with some priming sugar and let them sit at room temp. while you are gone? Even if they are not completely finished fermenting, they probably aren't that far off. Use a 1/2 cup of sugar to prevent over-carbonating. That way you get a head start on carbing your beer before you return.