Fermentation Temps at Different stages

[jhimstedt]

How important is the fermentation temp after you've hit gravity?

I do good temp control for the vigorous part, but don't always have enough room in the fridge for two or three carboys/buckets...If i put em in the basement after first week or so and put em in the basement at around 74ish. What part of the process is the most important to control temp?

Also, what about bottle carbonation temp? Should i try and keep that down or is the 74ish basement temp fine at that point?

I just don't have enough room to keep all fermentors and carbing bottles in the fridge at 66-68.

thanks

 

[duboman]

After active fermentation there is actually some benefit to letting the temp rise a bit to keep the yeast happy and busy doing their thing. I generally don't do too much worrying over temps after the first 10 days or so as there is really no concern over off flavors developing at that point, it is more about conditioning and the yeast cleaning up.

For bottle conditioning and carbonation around 70 is ideal and I have had bottles go at 72-74 without any issues. Once carbonated and conditioned though I am sure to relocate the bottles to my colder basement where I store them at 60-65.

 

[badbrew]

I'm gonna say it is less than 10% important based on limited experience. My conditioning kegs were at 80 a few days each week recently and the beer aged nicely for about 3 to 4 weeks. My current pliny fermenting keg is kind of winey right now. It was in the mid 70's from the start. Cest la vie. I think it will still be drinkable.

74 sounds perfect to me.

 

[mhenry41h]

The most crucial time to monitor your temperature is during the growth phase of the yeast. During that period of lag time, the yeast are reproducing to the necessary level to ferment your specific wort. It is during this phase that the yeast produce most of the esters and phenols that will flavor your beer. This also means that "close to equally" important to your yeast growth phase temp is your pitch size. Can you make good beer pitching too little yeast and allowing your beer to set at 74/75 degrees during the growth phase? Sure. Will you make a beer that will win a major competition? Likely not. Go to Mr. Malty.com to make a proper yeast starter to active them as well as grow your pitch to proper size as well as do your best to get that temp down a few degrees if you are looking to brew competition quality beer. I personally like to pitch at 5 degrees below my intended fermentation temp and set my temp controller to allow a free rise through the growth and lag phases. This helps to stave of diacetyl as well as keeping my esters and phenols in check. Belgian strains work specifically well in those lower to mid 70's temps but Id still try to start around 65 and allow a free rise. A simple solution to not having a fermentation fridge is to get a plastic tub with water in it and throw a few frozen water bottles in throughout your fermentation to help.

 

[dermotstratton]

Is there a danger in pitching yeast at too low of a temperature. I have heard that you want fermentation to start at the upper end of the suggested range to help prevent a fermentation lag. Not sure if there is truth to this.

It definitely makes sense to increase the temp as primary fermentation in order to clean up the last bit of fermentables, but I don't understand what the optimal temperature would be for 1) initial pitching, 2) first 72 hours of fermentation and 3) finishing of fermentation

Any thoughts?

 

[mhenry41h]

Is there a danger in pitching yeast at too low of a temperature. I have heard that you want fermentation to start at the upper end of the suggested range to help prevent a fermentation lag. Not sure if there is truth to this.

It definitely makes sense to increase the temp as primary fermentation in order to clean up the last bit of fermentables, but I don't understand what the optimal temperature would be for 1) initial pitching, 2) first 72 hours of fermentation and 3) finishing of fermentation

Any thoughts?

There could be a theoretical danger in pitching too low (especially with an ale strain) but 5 degrees won't hurt. There is a tremendous danger in pitching too high due to the potential of excessive ester and phenol production. In the first 72, I keep my beer at the desired fermentation temp. Past the first 72 hours, temp control becomes less important...but fluctuations can lead to issues.

 

[1Mainebrew]

Check out cold pitching.