Im new to home brewing (a week or so away from brewing up my first batch). And Im a bit worried about controling my fermenting temps.; read diff strains of yeast can handle higher fermt temps. Can you use these high temp yeast to make any style of beer? (I want to make stouts and porters..later imperials of those as well). Any advice would be helpful....thank you in advance, BA fam.
I guess the first question is, what temperatures can you ferment at? If you can keep your ambient temperatures under 70 degrees you will have no problem with Stouts and porters. Good luck!
Just stay away from any temps north of 75 if you can help it... Higher than that and the yeast will start putting off flavors you dont want .. Not to mention ambient temp. will rise in the vessel during hard fermentation.. if your bucket is at 70 prior to fermentation it will rise 5-10 during the initial 48 hrs of fermentation. Keep those factors in mind.
Thanx guys (and btw love the dog avatars..i have an all white boxer). Im going to try the ice bottles in the tub of water (w a damp towel/t-shirt) trick. But Im in an apt and dont have anouther room that is cooler then the others (like a basement). Was just asking about the yeast to help cover all my bases in case the temp flux is more then the trick can handle in my apt.
You are correct to be concerned with ferm temps, this is a very important aspect of the brew process. To answer your question: for the most part you do not want to be substituting a high temp yeast just because the temp range is more favorable. Check out Wyeast and White Labs and Fermentis (Safale) web sites and you will see guidance on which yeast work best with a particular style. Also, if you have a kit, it usually ships with a good choice of yeast for that style. For a beginner you don't want to be experimenting with changes here just to solve the temp problem. For example, some excellent strains for brewing a saison my work well above 80 but would give poor results in a stout. Better to use the correct yeast and bite the bullet with some type of temp control to keep your ferm temp reasonable. A few tips: You usually see a range of temps for each strain, i.e. 62 -74. You normally want to avoid the extremes. The first 72 hours of fermentation are the most critical time for proper temp control. After that period it is recommended to slowly raise the temp 3-5 degrees to allow the yeast to clean up any by-products of fermentation. The process of fermentation is exothermic. That means it creates heat . . . expect a 4-5 degree temp rise due to the yeast being active, then it drops as fermentation is completed. After fermentation is complete you can store at room temps with no big problems. Good luck and feel free to post questions as you progress.
I actually use frozen 16 -20oz water bottles or the big gel packs .. if you place 4-5 frozen 16-20 oz water bottles right up against the bucket and then wrap a towel tightly around it to keep them in contact with the bucket you can have constant temps at around 66.. Just make sure you have double that amount freezing while the other ones are melting ..I do this in the summer ( texas ) with the house temp set at 74. I just rotate the frozen bottles every 12 hours and keep a constant 66 degrees. Its kind of a pain but its not a big deal. Fall is almost here.
If you are looking for a yeast that would be appropriate to the styles of stouts and porters and heat tolerant than US-05 is probably your best bet. It has a very wide recommended temperature range of 60-75°F. US-05 is a pretty clean (neutral) yeast. I personally do not have experience with brewing with this yeast at the very high end (75°F) but since it is a clean/neutral yeast it may ‘work’ fine there. I have brewed many times with US-05 where the fermentation temperature have peaked at 70-72°F and all of those beers have turned out great. As has been mentioned previously it would be ‘better’ to not ferment at the very highest range of a yeast’s recommenced fermentation temperature range if you could manage that. Cheers!
Thank you guys for all your help. Planning my swamp cooler now (checking out lowes' website for what i need..lol) So i can create the best envir. for my little hungry pals ....lol.
You'll actually be creating a better environment for your beer. The yeast are quite happy to make a cesspool out of beer wort at higher temps.
Try to keep the temp as low as you can with your swamp cool, but another tip. After the fermentation is complete, remove the fermenter and let it warm a few degrees (like to room temp). This will help keep the yeast a little more active and they will consume any diacetyle, and basically clean up the beer in general.
Temperature is very important. Also important - pitching adequate amount of yeast and oxygenating wort well. That's the first trident of fermentation success.
