Yeast and temperature

[admin]

Had an interesting PM from Brian in HBW about a discussion he had recently with a yeast vendor. In fact this nugget has now become standard practice for me.

In order to reduce the risk of infection it is important to get the yeast to work as quick as possible to get some alcohol into the wort. This means 20 or 22 degrees.

What I have taken to doing is leaving brews in the kitchen for 24 hours after I've pitched the yeast. When I see a good bit of activity I will transfer to the fomenting fridge in the shed and set to 18 for an ale or 11 for a lager.

The other nugget, which doesn't really affect me (as my fermenting fridge does it anyway), is the yeast guys said constant temperature is probably more important than the temperature itself.

[CARA]

Is 24 too high for an ale yeast?

[Ciderhead]

yes

[CARA]

That immersion heater I got for Christmas is pre set at 24 (although I did a few checks as it was usually at 22) and I can't seem to be able to adjust it down using the instructions. The range is about 14-28 I THINK-cant find the bloody thing-must get someone to look at it for me.

[Jacob]

Is 24 too high for an ale yeast?

Depend on yeast strain. Most of the Belgians like WLP550, WLP565 should be ok.
For WLP568 optimum fermentation temp is 21-27C.

[imark]

I think that if you drop the temperature too fast it'll have bad results but it probably depends on the veriety of yeast.
My experience with WLP004 over last few brews leads me to believe it doesn't like big swings in temp. Notty or US05 are more forgiving.

[LordEoin]

I generally up the temperature by 2 degrees until I see a krausen forming (usually 24 hours), then set it to the proper fermenting temp.
Give the yeaties a bit of a vacation to settle in before they have to get to work.
Then give them another vacation after they've done their work to allow them clean up a bit 

[mr hoppy]

This is sort of surprising advice, especially for lagers, but also for normal ales. Less desirable fermentation by-products, like diacetyl are produced during the initial phase of fermentation before there are visible signs of fermentation, if temperatures are too high. While the risk of infection is higher if you pitch cold and ramp up, it's not a big deal if you are sanitary and it will result in a cleaner tasing beer.

[Ciderhead]

You should avoid temperature differential of greater than 5 degrees when pitching, nobody likes a burning or freezing bath.


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