During fermentation: Keep same temperature or slowly increase?

[wolfsong]

New(er) brewer here -

Most of what I’ve read says to keep the same temperature throughout fermentation. Which temperature used, depends on the yeast, ale/lager, etc.

Recently, I’ve come across people using fermentation temperature profiles where they slowly increase the fermentation temperature x degrees after n days.
Are these profiles a topic that some people swear by and other people don’t see the need for?

I have two beers now fermenting, and I’m wondering whether to keep the current temperature or follow some existing profile (which profile though, I have no idea…). My default is to keep them in fermenter for 3-4 weeks at a constant temperature, then bottle.

Saison: currently 8 days at 74 degrees. Yeast: Belle Saison.
Red Ale: currently 6 days at 65 degrees. Yeast: Safale S-04.

Thoughts or rationale one way or another, to keep same temperature or slowly increase the temperature?

Thanks!

[flars]

I’m not a proponent of raising the temperature near the end of fermentation to get the yeast to finish. Just my opinion that if the wort, yeast, and fermentation temperature were properly taken care of at the beginning, the fermentation will finish without any more help. In the case of fermentations that needed temperature control to hold the temperature down I will let the temperature of the beer free rise to ambient after a week or so. Ambient in cases like this is only a couple of degrees over the fermentation temperature.

I brew with mostly ale yeasts which do not require high fermentation temperatures. The one saison yeast I use is fermented at the low end of the temperature range so no temp control is needed. I let the fermentation temperature drop as the active fermentation slows. I bumped this one up to 74°F once. FG was the same as other saisons brewed. The only difference may be less hop aroma in this one. Will know for sure if this is the case in a couple of weeks after a full term of bottle conditioning.

[loopie_beer]

The idea is to allow the yeast to warm up so they finish with a lower FG, finish quicker, and clean up by products quicker. If you are fermenting for 4 weeks you’ll likely not need this. The only time it’s really needed is if you’re brewing a lager and there is noticeable diacetyl. Wyeast 3724 actually benefits from raising temps to help finish, even at 90°+!

[jimrmaine]

Well said loopie. I won’t try to rephrase you…this time!

[wilcolandzaat]

me try to keep it for the first 8 to 10 days at the same temp so my yeast can do its thing .take a grav reading if iam happy transfer it to second and let it stand my airco room keeps it cool

[rebuiltcellars]

I’ve been using the slowly-raise the temperature method for a few years, and recently tried to go lazy and leave the fermentation temperature alone for the whole 3 weeks on my last brew session. Both beers (I typically brew two beers in a brew day) were recipes I had brewed multiple times before, so I feel confident in my conclusions. Both finished a couple of points higher than they typically would. To me that says that if you want to dry out your beers as much as you can for a given recipe, slowly raise the temperature during fermentation as things start to slow down.

[wolfsong]

Thank you for all the answers, it helps quite a bit!