Fermentation Temperature Experiment

Sounds like an interesting experiment.

Just a couple of thoughts/comments:

I only have used Wyeast 1388 once (to make a Duvel clone a very, very long time ago). My personal experience with that one batch was that 1388 takes a long time to ‘complete’ primary fermentation? I experienced over carbonated beers from that batch. Below is the description that Wyeast provides for this1388:

“The classic choice for brewing golden strong ales. This alcohol tolerant strain will produce a complex ester profile balanced nicely with subtle phenolics. Malt flavors and aromas will remain even with a well attenuated dry, tart finish. It may continue to produce CO2 for an extended period after packaging or collection.”

Maybe 1388 benefits from a longer time duration for primary fermentation? You state: “Fermentations will occur for one week and bottle conditioned for another three.” Maybe two weeks of primary fermentation will be ‘better’?

You also may be interested in this chart from White Labs since it discusses the ‘effects’ of fermentation temperature on a per strain basis (WLP570 is the equivalent of 1388): http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/belgianchart.pdf

Good luck with your experiments and please report back your findings.

Cheers!

 

Hopefully some other BAs who have more extensive experience with 1388 can provide some additional input.

Cheers!

 

i've used 1388 maybe 4 times and never had a slow fermentation issue, it's usually cranked for me dropping to usually within a few points of water in a few days time, then again never fermented it on the cool side (<70F) and actually probably wasn't checking sg within a week's time frame though.

 

“ …never had a slow fermentation issue” I wouldn’t characterize my one batch with 1388 as being a “slow fermentation”. I question whether the batch was ‘complete’ when I bottled it. Over a relatively short period of time I experienced over carbonation in the bottles. At the time I thought that perhaps I bottled before the fermentation was completely done.

Cheers!

 

So it was a fast fermentation that took a long time?

 

Great blog man, link added to my own blog.