What does warming up your fermentation do? I’ve been using heating pads to warm up my fermentations, but just recently saw that I should be fermenting at a temp then raising it a few degrees for a few more days. What does that do? Is there an advantage to slowly warming up your ferm? or is it a step I can skip?
thanks!
S
[quote=“Gr8abe”]What does warming up your fermentation do? I’ve been using heating pads to warm up my fermentations, but just recently saw that I should be fermenting at a temp then raising it a few degrees for a few more days. What does that do? Is there an advantage to slowly warming up your ferm? or is it a step I can skip?
thanks!
S[/quote]
There is a much longer answer, but essentially, it encourages/facilitates the yeast to continue to eat the sugars and fully ferment.
Another benefit is allows them to stay ‘active’ and consume anything they can, which usually translates to things you don’t want in your beer, such as diacetyl (butter) and acetaldehyde (green apple). The majority of the esters, phenols, fusels, and other yeast-derived flavor compounds are formed early in the fermentation process, namely the first 48-72 hours, which is why pitching temp and INITIAL ferment temp are critically important. However, as fermentation moves along, sugars get consumed, and beer gets made, the yeast have less to eat. And if its chilly, they can just go to sleep and fall out of solution.
fermenting for the first few days to a week, in the low 60’s (ales) is more important. after that you can raise the temp a bit. after the active part of fermentation you can raise it to the high 60s. i never go over 70 (unless maybe it’s a belgian or saison yeast)
