Brewing an ale

[westbrewer]

Hello, everyone. I am getting ready to brew my first ale in some time and wanted to get some feedback on the fermenting process.

I started brewing probably 15 years ago with a buddy when I was young and had no money. All our stuff was homemade and honestly didn't work very well. We were limited to making ales and probably only had less than 10 batches even turn out drinkable. We stopped after a few years. Last year, I decided to jump back in and loaded up on spike equipment with a CF10, temp control, brew pots, false bottom, and all the parts. I also bought a kegerator and all the things needed to keg. Since last summer, I have made about 10 batches, all lagers, and even though I had some missteps along the way, they all were pretty good to excellent. Over my last few batches, I added a plate chiller and a few other items and I feel pretty dialed in with my process for lagers.

So, now I'm ready to brew an ale again. I have a general set of steps in mind for the fermentation and just wanted to get some feedback. Bring the boiled wort to pitching temp and pitch yeast. Ferment at 60-65 degrees until the yeast slows down. Raise the temp 5 or so degrees for a diacetyl rest for a couple of days (i know this step is debatable with ales) until desired gravity is attained. Cold crash to around 40 degrees for a few days. Keg and store at room temp for a couple of weeks. Enjoy.

I know I am skipping secondary fermentation but since I have the CF10 conical, that step doesn't seem necessary. Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[VikeMan]

Bring the boiled wort to pitching temp and pitch yeast. Ferment at 60-65 degrees until the yeast slows down. Raise the temp 5 or so degrees for a diacetyl rest for a couple of days (i know this step is debatable with ales) until desired gravity is attained. Cold crash to around 40 degrees for a few days. Keg and store at room temp for a couple of weeks.

A lot of this depends on the yeast strain, the style, and your preferences, But in general, it looks ok. Maybe ferment slightly warmer, depending. But there's really no reason to store the keg at room temp, unless you are carbonating with sugar. If you're force carbonating, keep it cold if possible. Also, regarding "desired gravity," replace that with "final gravity." It might be what you desired, or it might be a little higher or lower. But the point is to let attenuation finish and stabilize. At that point, if there are no off flavors, go ahead and crash.

I know I am skipping secondary fermentation but since I have the CF10 conical, that step doesn't seem necessary.

It's not necessary with most beers, regardless of the fermenter. With your spike conical, you have the added option of dumping the yeast/trub before crashing.

 

[westbrewer]

Thanks, appreciate the feedback. My first will be a red ale probably using Nottingham ale yeast. And I will be force carbonating it, so thanks for the storage tip. That I was not sure about.

 

[Jim R]

My typical process is to ferment for 2 weeks, then do a pressure transfer to the purged keg, then immediately cold crash and cool down to about 38-39 degrees (serving temperature) in the keg with about 12 psi of CO2 and tap 1 week later. Ales are easy and fast compared to lagers.

 

[mcmeador]

I have never done any deliberate diacetyl rest on an ale. If you’re fermenting at 65 degrees, it should take care of itself in theory.

 

[Culinarytracker]

I'd add, that since you have full temp control, I'd recommend fermenting Nottingham at the lower end of it's recommended temp. It can churn through the wort like a crazy monster when it really gets going so the temp is really only critical for 3-4 days in my experience.