US - 05 fermenting at 63 degrees

[jakis]

Hey all,

My first time using a mini fridge as a fermentation chamber with the johnson A419. Been fermenting for about 20 hours now at a consistent temp of 63. Should that be okay or is the temp so low for us-05 that it will cause off flavours.

 

[BrewerBrad82]

You should be just fine at that temp. 63 is not too cold for US-05, in fact, it is right in the sweet spot for that yeast's ideal fermentation temp. Find the data sheet right here:

http://www.fermentis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/SFA_US05.pdf

The lower fermentation temperature will not lead to off flavors, that is something you need to worry about at too high of a temp.

 

[hunter_le five]

I'd probably bump it up to ~65°F. That seems to be it's sweet spot, at least in my experience.

I fermented @ 62°F once, and it came out with strong peach esters. I've heard from several others who experienced the same thing at that temp.

 

[PatrickLS83]

You should be fine, the ideal temp is around 68-72 I think but lower 60's should not be an issue. Just consider letting it ferment a little bit longer. Lower temps equal slower yeast. The yeast will naturally clean up off flavors like diacetyl but may just take longer. Consider letting it go for 2.5 - 3 weeks at this temp before bottling or kegging. Should come out just fine. I brew most of my beers in low 60's including S-05 or WLP-001 (which someone told me is the same strain but I haven't confirmed).

 

[flars]

I had the peach flavor in a stout fermenting at 63° to 64°. I now ferment with US-05 at 66° to 67°.
I do not notice the peach flavor in my American amber ale at 63°. Higher hopping may mask the flavor.

 

[soccerdad]

I always wonder when folks mention temp if they are talking ambient or in the fermenter?? I tend to get about a 5 degree bump from 05 when it is at it's most vigorous, so 62 ambient would be about 67 for the beer. Just my experience .. YMMV

 

[flars]

Good comment. When I speak of temperature, it is always of the fermenting wort.

 

[jakis]

I think 63 is pretty close to what is in the fermenter. The a419 johnson is taped to the fermenter with installation. Pretty happy to have this fridge setup. Our last batch fermented for a day at 78 because I was out of town for a night the day after brewing and couldn't replace the wet towel around the fermenter.

 

[hunter_le five]

I always wonder when folks mention temp if they are talking ambient or in the fermenter?? I tend to get about a 5 degree bump from 05 when it is at it's most vigorous, so 62 ambient would be about 67 for the beer. Just my experience .. YMMV

Good question. That certainly makes a big difference.

I can't speak for the others, but mine was a firm 62°F beer temp. I use a thermowell and probe to control temps based on the internal temp of the beer, not ambient temp.

I probably would have been better off that time controlling based on air temp instead.

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

I have been using it at 63 to 65 and notice no problems. I am using an old cast iron bath tub filled to about halfway up the carboy's. I measure the water temp in the tub. Shouldn't it be pretty close to the beer temps inside the carboy?

 

[Konadog]

Just finished 5 gallons of Fizzy Yellow Beer at that temp, took about 8 hours longer to really get going, but so far so good. Temp was taken from a probe taped and insulated to the outside of the carboy.

 

[RandallFlag]

Just did a Pliny clone at 62 deg with a double pitch of US-05. It came out pretty darn outstanding.

If there is a "peachness" to it as other posters have mentioned it would simply fold itself into the tropical fruit meld of the hop overload that is PtE.

 

[PatrickLS83]

I always wonder when folks mention temp if they are talking ambient or in the fermenter?? I tend to get about a 5 degree bump from 05 when it is at it's most vigorous, so 62 ambient would be about 67 for the beer. Just my experience .. YMMV

+1

62 ambient temp will put you in the sweet spot for fermentation temp in the primary. Funny thing is you can find a ton of information here just from people trying to achieve the same thing that you have presented as a potential issue (ie. bringing ambient temp down for ideal fermentation temps). Just search for fermentation chambers or glycol chillers and and you'll see what I mean

 

[pablosbrewing]

+1

62 ambient temp will put you in the sweet spot for fermentation temp in the primary. Funny thing is you can find a ton of information here just from people trying to achieve the same thing that you have presented as a potential issue (ie. bringing ambient temp down for ideal fermentation temps). Just search for fermentation chambers or glycol chillers and and you'll see what I mean

This is one case where I disagree with the mfg data sheet.

US-05 seems to have mutated over time: 62-63 and lower can produce peach esters that do not age out. Actual fermenter temp of 65-66 gives a nice clean and crisp profile.

If you want to ferment Chico low, you really want to consider liquid with WY1056 or WLP001 these days.

 

[kh54s10]

I use US05 a lot and ferment at 64 degrees. I have not noticed any off flavors at all. This is one of my favorite yeasts.

 

[Jim311]

My first IPA was fermented with little temperature control whatsoever, just an ambient temp in my house of around 66-68 degrees (and a wort temp that spiked into the low 70s at times) and it turned out well. This time I'm fermenting an APA and using a cooler with water in it at around 62-64 degrees and I'm assuming the wort temp is a little higher than that, probably 66-68 at its highest, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out since some people are saying lower temperatures lead to fruity flavors.

 

[heckofagator]

Man, I have some milk stout fermenting now with US05 and its at 60, via the stick on thermometer. I hope I don't get any peach in there. I pitched the yeast Sunday night. I think I'm going to remove the frozen water bottle from the Cool Brewing Bag and see if it'll come up a few degrees.

 

[paperairplane]

I use S05 almost exclusively - I typically chill wort to 60-62* and pitch, letting the yeast raise the wort temp from there. After a week - 10 days I will raise ferm chamber temp to 68* and let it go for 2 weeks to clean up. Then I cold crash to 33* for a week and package.

I have never tried running it below 60*, but I haven't had any of the peach / apricot some report.

 

[rhythm]

I am currently fermenting a small batch (1 gallon) of a German Blonde Ale with US05. I have the probe taped to the carboy with some bubble wrap, and the temp set to 17.5C (63.5F)with a 0.5C differential. Starting about 24 hours after pitching, I had a very active fermentation going (blowoff tube necessary) for 4-5 days. It's been a little over a week now and everything has calmed down. Since my fermentation was on the cooler side for this yeast I'll be curious to see what I think about the finished product. Sounds like it was warm enough though to avoid any taste issue.

Greg

 

[mrgrimm101]

A couple brews ago I made an American Strong Ale and used US-05. It fermented in my basement where the ambient temp was about 60F. The internal temp stayed about 61F-63F and it came out perfect. They say that US-05 can give off a peachy/apricot flavor at about 63F and below, but I didn't notice any. You should be good to go.

 

[ChelisHubby]

I made a Blond for a friend and it was at 62 it had a lot of citrus not clean taste at all , but my friend loved it!

 

[BrewNow]

Count me in the camp of perceiving the peach in both aroma and flavor when using US-05. From my discussions with the local home brew club folks and the HBT community, some people are more sensitive than others to the peach. I've used this yeast in a robust porter and several US Pale and IPA recipes. Using Johnson control system monitoring the liquid, my pitch and ferment temps have ranged from 62F to 68F. The flavor does integrate nicely with certain hop combinations but for the most part is not as neutral as the liquid counterparts (WLP001/1056). All of these comments are based on my nose and taste buds so take it for what it is...

 

[bragona71]

I had a batch of a dark brown ale drop into high 50`s while I was away a couple days. Brought the temp up as soon as I got home. I did not get any off tastes. I left town on the 3rd day of fermentation. Its my understanding the temp control is MOST important for the first 4-5 days of fermentation. maybe I was lucky

 

[RandallFlag]

Count me in the camp of perceiving the peach in both aroma and flavor when using US-05. From my discussions with the local home brew club folks and the HBT community, some people are more sensitive than others to the peach. I've used this yeast in a robust porter and several US Pale and IPA recipes. Using Johnson control system monitoring the liquid, my pitch and ferment temps have ranged from 62F to 68F. The flavor does integrate nicely with certain hop combinations but for the most part is not as neutral as the liquid counterparts (WLP001/1056). All of these comments are based on my nose and taste buds so take it for what it is...

That's what I suspected when the poster first mentioned the whole peach thing. I was like, hmm, "I wonder if it's like cilantro where some people think it tastes like soap where others don't perceive it at all???"

 

[aprichman]

That's what I suspected when the poster first mentioned the whole peach thing. I was like, hmm, "I wonder if it's like cilantro where some people think it tastes like soap where others don't perceive it at all???"

The idea that genetic variations near olfactory receptor genes may influence yeast perception is intriguing

 

[xvhvgh]

Good comment. When I speak of temperature, it is always of the fermenting wort.