Diacetyl rest in cool basement

[J2W2]

Hi,

I have an Arrogant Bastard clone that's been in the fermenter for three days, with White Labs WLP007. Fermentation was rapid and is starting to wind down.

My normal procedure is to hold fermentation at the low end of the recommended yeast temperature, and then let it rise naturally to finish at the high end to perform a diacetyl rest. The problem is, thanks to the bitter cold we're experiencing right now, our basement is only 68 degrees (usually it runs around 70 in the winter).

According to the White Labs website, optimum temperature for WLP007 is 65-70. I started fermentation at 65-66 and let it rise to 66-67 last night. I can let it rise to 68, but that will be it.

The room I have my fermentation refrigerator in is fairly small - do you think it would be worth putting a space heater in there for a day or two to get the temp up to 70?

Thanks for your advice!

 

[Homergah]

Let it go for a few more days and perform a forced diacetyl test. You shouldn't need a d rest with 007. That being said, I always ramp temp, especially on a big beer. If your gravity is good when you do the test, then raising temp may not be needed.

 

[IslandLizard]

Can you move your fermenter to warmer area to finish out and let it do its Diacetyl rest?

I use a small space heater inside my upright ferm freezer, hooked up to the warm side relay of my STC-1000. It's about 200W, set to half power, so 100W then. It clicks on for only a minute or so then is off for an hour or so. You could even rely on the heater's own thermostat, but if it gets stuck your beer is cooked.

 

[Vale71]

There is no such thing as a diacetyl rest with ale yeasts. As long as you don't let the temperature drop too low the yeast will keep doing its job and clean everything up in due time.

 

[IslandLizard]

There is no such thing as a diacetyl rest with ale yeasts.

Yes and no. How about calling it "Conditioning rest?"

Many of us prefer that (slight) temp increase toward the end of an Ale fermentation.

 

[J2W2]

Can you move your fermenter to warmer area to finish out and let it do its Diacetyl rest?

I use a small space heater inside my upright ferm freezer, hooked up to the warm side relay of my STC-1000. It's about 200W, set to half power, so 100W then. It clicks on for only a minute or so then is off for an hour or so. You could even rely on the heater's own thermostat, but if it gets stuck your beer is cooked.

I'd prefer not moving it if I have alternatives. I control the mini-fridge I ferment in with an Inkbird controller. I haven't used it in heat mode before, but I should be able to plug the space heater into that and only have it kick on when the temperature in my fermenter drops below 70 (I have the probe in a thermowell). So, I'm leaning toward trying that.

If I go this route, is 70 good or should I go a little higher? The basement normally runs 71-72 degrees, so I normally let it free-rise to the ambient temperature at the end.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[IslandLizard]

I'd prefer not moving it if I have alternatives. I control the mini-fridge I ferment in with an Inkbird controller. I haven't used it in heat mode before, but I should be able to plug the space heater into that and only have it kick on when the temperature in my fermenter drops below 70 (I have the probe in a thermowell). So, I'm leaning toward trying that.

If I go this route, is 70 good or should I go a little higher? The basement normally runs 71-72 degrees, so I normally let it free-rise to the ambient temperature at the end.

Thanks again for the help!

YVW!
If your ambients stay in the low 70s, sure use that to your advantage. When it drops below that during cold spells, let the heating circuit inside the ferm chamber take over.

Just be careful when they're set that close the heating and cooling phases aren't fighting each other. I usually turn the other one off (unplug) to prevent that. I even use a 'warm' fridge at times (sadly it won't cool anymore).

 

[Homergah]

There is no such thing as a diacetyl rest with ale yeasts. As long as you don't let the temperature drop too low the yeast will keep doing its job and clean everything up in due time.

Call it what you want. If you ferment an ale yeast at the bottom end of its range and you want to give the yeast the best chance of finishing its job, you're going to need to raise the temp to the upper end to insure diacetyl reduction. Sounds like a diacetyl rest to me.

 

[Loud Brewing]

Try wrapping a heating pad or electric blanket around you fermenter for a day or 2, it works great

 

[JimRausch]

You can always put the bucket in a swamp cooler filled with water and add an aquarium heater. Easy to set it to whatever temp you want.

 

[TooManyTacos]

If you pitched an appropriate amount of yeast, a diacetyl rest isn't necessary. This is especially true with an ale strain.

 

[Bobby_M]

A late temp ramp is SOP for me ale or lager. In lagers its primarily for cleaning up diacetyl but in ales letting yeast crash out too soon seems to encorage acytaldehyde. Its not always obvious that you arr dropping temps by a few degrees when ambient is stable. The internal heat production stops and youve got to heat to keep it there.