wlp004 fermenting temp question

Drk93TT · Dec 11, 2014

I recently brewed a 5.5 gallon all grain oatmeal stout with WLP004 irish ale and a 1liter starter.

Brew day was 12/10/14 afternoon and the OG was 1.052..

My basement ambient temp is 60-62*F on my thermapen digital temp gauge. The carboy has a fermometer which has been reading steady 66-67*F since I put the carboy downstairs yesterday afternoon. Fermentation kicked off about 3 hours after yeast pitched and is still going strong tonight.

** My question is: Should I leave the beer down in the basement for just the first few days (3-5days) of fermentation and then move it upstairs to the 68-70 degree ambient? Or should I just leave it down there 60-62*F for a full 3 weeks to ferment?

I do not have a fermentation chamber or anything like that..just a glass 6.5 carboy

I usually ferment 3 weeks no matter what I'm brewing and don't bother checking FG in between, just after the 3 weeks. :mug:

Thanks!

LLBeanJ · Dec 11, 2014

Move it to warmer temps when the krausen begins to clear.

Drk93TT · Dec 12, 2014

Krausen is starting to clear...bubbles throughout and the ferm is still active and airlock is bubbling. obviously slower bubble now but still its alive and well. The fermometer strip is now reading 62. I am moving the fermenter upstairs right now to room temp for the remainder of the fermentation! Thanks!

ceeaton · Dec 12, 2014

Don't be surprised if the bulk of your fermentation is complete. I've brewed 2 batches with WLP004 in the last three weeks and was down to 1.018 from 1.052 and 1.055 within 48 hours after onset of active fermentation (usually within 6 hrs of pitching), which I thought was incredibly fast. Only difference is that I started my fermentation @ 66F ambient and moved to 60F ambient after krausen started to form. Moved back to 66F ambient on day 3 to finish and rest. All turned out well (belch...) as I'm sampling from my keg at the moment.

Drk93TT · Dec 12, 2014

So your drinking the brew after 4 days? lol Too soon for me Ill wait it out at least 2.5 weeks after brew day. . . Usually I do 3 weeks primary and rack to keg for 2 weeks, sample and then 3 weeks after keg date its great.

ceeaton · Dec 16, 2014

Nah, usually the earliest I sample it is @ 7 days. I usually brew a lot of low gravity bitters and toss a bag of dry hops in. After a few days you can start to discern the dry hop contribution which will improve as long as I don't drink the beer. With WLP004 I try and wait until 21 days before I really start drinking it to round out some of the edges. At that point it should last for another two weeks minimum unless I get visitors. If I can wait longer I do, but I've been brewing and not buying, so sometimes I have only two choices, no beer or very young beer. If I can get ahead three batches I should be able to age at least a month before tapping.