wyeast 3787 fermentation

[shinth]

hey, a friend and i have our first all grain brew in the primary at the moment. we pitched it at 20C and it took a couple of days to get going. i have mentioned to him that people slowly ramp up fermentation for several reasons. they appear to be so different flavours develop, and to make sure it attenuates properly. what would happen if it just stayed at 20C?

this also leads me to my next question. it's a chimay red clone and we are going to secondary. if we did ramp the primary up to say a conservative 25C, what temp should the secondary be kept at? 16C? will that halt any activity?

 

[McKnuckle]

The purpose of a secondary vessel, if used at all, is to clarify the beer before packaging, or to condition it over an extended period of time. In other words, you want your fermentation to complete in the primary vessel. If you are worried about fully attenuating, then keep it in primary until it is DONE. If you then want to condition it over a period of weeks, rack it to secondary (minimal headspace!). Or alternately, just leave it in primary.

Once ale yeast have finished their initial lag/growth phase and the first couple days of active fermentation, you can raise temperature conservatively without fear of introducing unwanted esters. Doing so may help coax a reluctant strain to attenuate more thoroughly, although it is not much of a concern when starting at 20c/68f.

 

[JohnSand]

I have used 3787 or WLP530 (purported to be the same strain) at various temps from the low 60s to over 80 with good results. The esters may vary but will still be present. I'm drinking a Belgian Pale now fermented about 65 that has some nice fruit and spice flavors.
Welcome and good luck.

 

[IslandLizard]

What is your reason for the secondary?

How long are you intending to condition/age the beer once fermentation is done before you bottle it?

Once the beer is fermented (attenuated) past 50% temperature has a much lesser effect on flavor and aroma profile than it does on the first 50%. But increasing a few degrees, or even ramping up over a period of time, raising the temps will help to keep the yeast fermenting it out all the way, without going dormant too early.

What was your OG?
How much yeast did you pitch? One smack pack in 5 gallons? Did you make a yeast starter?

 

[shinth]

thanks everyone. i intended for the secondary to help clear it up somewhat, and in theory it should be more beneficial conditioning in there before the bottle conditioning takes place yeah?. i know a lot of people will say just leave it in the primary though, so i've no comparisons as i'm a new brewer.

i got a few hundred ml of the yeast from a friend and i made an 1800ml starter. we had a reading of 1.052 from memory. i don't have the beersmith info handy so i don't know how close we were.

 

[shinth]

My friend is racking this brew to a secondary today. I am wondering if there is the potential for under carbonated beer if we crash it right before bottling? Is this possible? Being a dubbel and somewhat bottle conditioned are we going to mess with the beer?

 

[JohnSand]

I rarely cold crash. That said, the general rule is that there will be plenty of yeast left in suspension for carbonation.

 

[Kent88]

Just for future reference, it is usually helpful to link to a description of the yeast strain you are wondering about:

WYeast 3787.

Good luck.

 

[shinth]

Thanks