The perfect fermentation?

[jdrowell15]

I thought this would make a fun thread.
What do you think about my description of the perfect fermentation?
What would be your perfect fermentation, along with reasons for certain things if it's not to much hassle?

Assume everything else leading up to this was also perfect, including the perfect yeast starter.

Brown ale
OG of 1.060
5 gallons in a glass carboy
Wyeast Labs #1968 - London ESB Ale
Yeast min/max temp range - 64 to 72
avg attenuation of 69%

-Cool wort down to 65 deg(because pitching yeast warmer could produce off flavors)
-Transfer to carboy
-Aerate for 45 to 60 seconds with pure oxygen(better for the yeast to multiply and form good cellular walls)
-Pitch your perfect yeast starter and shake for a minute
-Put carboy/wort in the perfect temp controlled environment
-Insert blow-off tube and Thermowell attached to the perfect temp controller
-Keep wort temp at 65 degrees for the first 3-4 days during vigorous fermentation
-Around day 4 start slowly increasing the temp 1 deg every 6 hrs till it reaches 72 and hold there for 2 days for "cleanup"(a warmer temp at this point won't cause off flavors and will help the yeast to stay active and eat up all the more complex sugars)
-Around day 8 start slowly decreasing the temp 1 deg every 6 hrs till it reaches 64 and hold for 1 to 3 weeks to help the yeast flocculate well
-Get a final gravity of about 1.015 - 1.017(69% attenuation)
-Bottle/keg/carbonate perfectly
-Another month or so later, drink you perfect brown ale!

So what do you guys think?!? To much? Did I forget anything? How is my timing of things, how are my temps?

Thanks for all the feedback! And I hope to hear you perfect fermentation!
Cheers!

 

[BrewChron]

Perfect until the part about warming the fermented wort. After the primary, vigrorous fermentation at about 65F, traditional ale breweries cool it to 59F quickly to get the yeast to flocculate out, then hold it at 59 for a few days for the diacetyl rest. Of course the diacetyl rest occurs during bottle conditioning too

 

[kanzimonson]

You pretty much described the exact fermentation schedule I use for my house brown, an adaptation of the Moose Drool recipe. My only change is that once the diacetyl is clear, I don't bother to slowly cool the wort... just jack it down to 35* for a few days (with gelatin) before kegging. A quick cool would actually be better than a slow one because it would encourage the yeast to floc out quicker. The cold shock makes them "give up"

 

[kanzimonson]

Oh, and I completely disagree with BrewChron about cooling the wort for flocculation, and then raising temp again. The yeast themselves are responsible for cleaning up diacetyl... who the hell wants them to floc out before the diacetyl is gone?

If you listen to Can You Brew It, you'll notice that practically every single brewery does a constant temperature rise throughout fermentation, reaching a peak through the cleanup phase. Once the beer is clean, that's when they decide to do any cooling.

 

[rockfish42]

I like that strain better fermented at 68, also 45-60 seconds of pure O2 might be overdoing it, it should be closer to 30 seconds. It can attenuate a lot higher than that if you don't watch your mash temperature too.

 

[BrewChron]

Oh, and I completely disagree with BrewChron about cooling the wort for flocculation, and then raising temp again. The yeast themselves are responsible for cleaning up diacetyl... who the hell wants them to floc out before the diacetyl is gone?

If you listen to Can You Brew It, you'll notice that practically every single brewery does a constant temperature rise throughout fermentation, reaching a peak through the cleanup phase. Once the beer is clean, that's when they decide to do any cooling.

I corrected my post, I must have misread something from a textbook (never fermented like that myself).

 

[Calder]

Too sweet for me. I prefer a drier beer. 80% attenuation, finish around 1.012

 

[jdrowell15]

Thanks for the feedback so far(hoping to get a little more

Ok, so what I have so far is:
-What I thought was a "clean up" of more complex sugars is actually a re-absorption of diacetyl, also known as a diacetyl rest. For ales really no temperature change has to happen, it's already at the temperature for diacetyl rest, where as with lagers you have to bring the temp up to around 60 for this to happen. Although with ales it seems to be a common practice after vigorous fermentation to allow the temp to creep up a little during diacetyl rest.
-After diaceyl rest you can then quickly cool the wort down to the mid 30's before kegging to get the yeast to give up and flocculate out even better
-30 seconds of pure oxygen aeration is enough

My questions regarding these comments:
1. What if bottling/naturally carbonating? Probably wouldn't want to crash cool then I wouldn't think? Cause you would still need a decent amount of yeast in suspension to naturally carbonate the beer when bottled. Is this correct, or is that not really the case?
2. Is 30 seconds of pure oxygen aeration really enough?

Thanks!

 

[kanzimonson]

Your observations are correct, though I want to add this about the diacetyl rest: Yes, ales are already at an "appropriate" temp for the D-rest, but remember that it's the yeast that clean up the diacetyl, so anything you can do to keep them active is good. That's why we raise the temp after fermentation.

On to your questions. I never did the crash cool when I was bottle conditioning (didn't have the means) so I can't give you empirical advice here. However, when I crash cool WITH gelatin, then keg, and then bottle from the keg once I've achieved carbonation, you still end up with a faint layer of yeast on the bottom over time. So I have no doubts that there will be some yeast for bottle conditioning if you crash cool, and I have no doubts that it will "work." BUT it might take longer. I really can't answer that.

And yes, 30-60 seconds of pure oxygen is plenty. If fermentation hasn't started after 8-12 hours, you can hit it again for 30 seconds, but don't do it once you see some visible activity.

 

[kanzimonson]

Okay, I got to thinking about the bottle conditioning. Consider bottle conditioned beers like Sierra Nevada or Bell's. When you buy those beers, they have the faintest dusting of yeast on the bottom of the bottle. In fact, they probably have less yeast on the bottom of their bottles than I do when I bottle from the keg. So I'm 99% prepared to stand behind my assertion that you shouldn't have a bit of difficulty bottle conditioning after crash cooling, assuming your beer is of average gravity. If you start getting into higher alcohol beers (maybe 7% or more?) there's more chance that the yeast are dying or unhealthy. Remember, Sierra Nevada doses their beers with fresh yeast at the time of bottling, at a rate of about 1mm cells per mL.

 

[jdrowell15]

Hmm, ok, interesting...that's great information, thank you.

Well, I was hoping to hear from more people to help me feel a little more confident that I have the fermentation process down, but it seems like I do and if I didn't, I would think more people would weigh in and let me know.

 

[rockfish42]

The crash cooling really won't hurt bottle conditioning, the only times it's really recommended to add yeast for bottle conditioning are a) a fairly big beer >7-8% b)a finicky yeast strain, I'm looking at you white labs saison c)extended aging longer than 3 months, esp. for lagers.

In these cases adding a half packet of dry yeast to your bottling bucket will help ensure timely and complete conditioning.

May I recommend the new Yeast book by Jamil Z. and Chris White, it gives a very thorough overview of what you're interested in.