Ideal Fermentation temps? Why does everyone say stay cold?

[MattK]

JZ says that you don't necessarily need a thermowell. If you have a small bit of insulation to cover your probe, you will be reading the accurate temp of the fermenting wort. If I'm not mistaken, it is accurate to within a half a degree.

I think you are okay in the 65 to 68 range. A cleaner beer is not always a better beer, depending on style and your own preferences.

[spiderwrangler]

JZ says that you don't necessarily need a thermowell. If you have a small bit of insulation to cover your probe, you will be reading the accurate temp of the fermenting wort. If I'm not mistaken, it is accurate to within a half a degree.

I think you are okay in the 65 to 68 range. A cleaner beer is not always a better beer, depending on style and your own preferences.

The idea there being that if it is fermenting viaga-rosely, then the temp of the beer in the center and the beer at the wall of the fermentor will be the same. If you insulate the probe against the side, the temp of the probe should be the same as the beer inside. If you have it out in the air, it could be off by quite a bit.

[MattK]

JZ says that you don't necessarily need a thermowell. If you have a small bit of insulation to cover your probe, you will be reading the accurate temp of the fermenting wort. If I'm not mistaken, it is accurate to within a half a degree.

I think you are okay in the 65 to 68 range. A cleaner beer is not always a better beer, depending on style and your own preferences.

The idea there being that if it is fermenting viaga-rosely, then the temp of the beer in the center and the beer at the wall of the fermentor will be the same. If you insulate the probe against the side, the temp of the probe should be the same as the beer inside. If you have it out in the air, it could be off by quite a bit.

yeah, I have a chunk of foam insulation with a small cutout for the probe. when I check the carboy with an infra red thermometer, they read almost identical.

[duckmanco]

I don't think cybi or the guys on the show necessarily suggest fermenting only warm or only cold. More often then not, they seem to recommend pitching cold and then allowing the beer to naturally ramp up to a higher temp over the course of a few days.

I generally follow their suggestions, and pitch cool which for most yeasts means 62-64 and hold it there for 3 days, then pull it from the fridge and let it ramp up to room temp or beyond to finish up. I do this for moderate gravity beers and English or American yeasts. It's worked incredibly well for me, only the esters I want, no fusel alcohols, and all the attenuation I hoped for. With the Johnson controller its super easy, with the swamp cooler, it was tougher.

[maxwell]

I would also just throw in my .02 that you cannot just take the temps other people are throwing around on the forums without a big grain of salt. Were these temps measured in a thermowell, with a probe taped against the carboy, or maybe just ambient in the fridge? What was their fermenter geometry? Pitching rate? Oxygen levels?

You need to figure out what temperature works for you, not what temperature works for homebrewtalk or bn forum members, and the way to do that is to brew a lot with the same yeast strain while making systematic changes to your fermentation schedule until you get the flavor profile that you're looking for. The key is systematic changes - if you change too many variables at once, the best you can hope for is getting lucky.

Max

[duckmanco]

I would also just throw in my .02 that you cannot just take the temps other people are throwing around on the forums without a big grain of salt. Were these temps measured in a thermowell, with a probe taped against the carboy, or maybe just ambient in the fridge? What was their fermenter geometry? Pitching rate? Oxygen levels?

You need to figure out what temperature works for you, not what temperature works for homebrewtalk or bn forum members, and the way to do that is to brew a lot with the same yeast strain while making systematic changes to your fermentation schedule until you get the flavor profile that you're looking for. The key is systematic changes - if you change too many variables at once, the best you can hope for is getting lucky.

Max

Quite right, and I guess my post sounded as though I blindly followed others temps just because - not so. Ive tried this method on multiple batches with multiple yeasts all the while taking notes, which anyone wanting to be able to replicate anything should probably be doing also. But still, having a place or idea to start trials is a great help in nailing down your process. I found pitching cold and letting it free rise works quite well and have been happy with the results. I'm also trying us05 at an elevated temp and holding it there as I've had that yeast do strange things to me at low temps.

[maxwell]

Glad to hear that you're getting good results. That's all that matters! Prost.

[Cody]

I'm also trying us05 at an elevated temp and holding it there as I've had that yeast do strange things to me at low temps.

Care to elaborate on this? I just fermented with US-05 at ~60°F for a few days before letting free rise to room temp at 67°F, so am curious what you are experiencing.