Pressure fermenting a Scottish 80 shilling?

[luckybeagle]

Thinking about pressure fermenting a batch of Scottish 80. I have temperature control, but my Biere de Garde is going to be hogging it for a few weeks. I'm also craving a nice, light-bodied, malty session ale right now--one that I can turn in just a few weeks (without going the Kveik route) and have a clean pressure fermenter staring at me. The Wyeast Scottish 1728 yeast is described as clean and neutral with minimal esters, except for higher temperature fermentations. The recipe I have calls for a 62F ferment, but I was instead considering a room temp (70F) ferment at 15 psi.

It's by nature a low OG beer (1.045ish), so I'm thinking fusels will be mitigated by both the low OG and the pressure. But... am I missing something here? I've never used this yeast before. Anyone get anything special or unique out of 1728 that can't be found in other clean, neutral ale yeasts? Think a pressure ferment will give me a close approximation of the style?

 

[Joshua Hughes]

I did with that yeast and it turned out fine. I did get pitching temp in the mid 60s in a keg so it held that temp until fermentation kicked off.

 

[luckybeagle]

Good stuff, I think I'll give it a shot. It seems like the risk is minimal with WY1728 not really being an expressive yeast. I'll chill to the low 60s, pitch, hit it with 10 or so PSI to start it off, and bring it in the house. I usually don't add CO2, but my BdG, also a pressure-fermented beer, has a slight fusel character. I wonder if the yeast working under pressure from the very beginning would've kept that in check... or if it was my leaky spunding valve during the first 24-48 hours that is to blame on that one.

 

[McMullan]

For ales, I prefer using a spunding later in fermentation, to naturally carbonate, which helps to get from grain to glass sooner. There is a risk that pressure fermenting an ale is going to produce a bland beer, ime.

 

[luckybeagle]

There is a risk that pressure fermenting an ale is going to produce a bland beer, ime.

Yeah, I hear ya. I never pressure ferment hefeweizen, Belgians or anything yeast-driven in flavor. Hoping the main feature of the Scottish ale yeast is just a lower attenuation percentage than normal, and that the pressure ferment doesn't neutralize any subtle yeast characteristics (I couldn't imagine it having any impact on attenuation percentage, especially with it already being a lower gravity brew).

On the other end of the spectrum, though, I'm contemplating a Doppelbock under pressure as well. Since it's a lager, I'm wondering if this bold, high gravity style will do well under pressure? I did a doppelbock two years ago under pressure and hated it, but came to realize my hopping was all wrong and I'm not a fan of Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager yeast after trying it a few times. This time I'm using OYL-111 German Bock yeast by Omega. Think this would be a good candidate for pressure fermenting?