Currently fermenting a 5 gallon batch of Smashing Pumpkin Ale in my basement, its my first attempt at this brew. Followed the recipe, made a 1500 ml yeast starter with wyeast smack pack and cold crashed it over night, decanted and pitched yeast at 75 degrees… Within 12 hours had some good bubbling in the air lock, within 2 days had to switch to blow off tubing setup, and krausen still came up and filled half the blow off tubing…Pitched Sunday…its now friday… Temp strip on glass carboy is reading about 62…but my krausen is still very high up into the neck of the carboy so im wondering if its potentially too cold?
Low 60’s is actually ideal for Wyeast 1056 (and most other American and British ale yeasts). The biggest issue I saw in your summary was that you pitched at 75°F. Ideally you would let the beer cool into the low 60’s, pitch and maintain that temp throughout at least the first few days of fermentation. It’s OK to let it rise a little after that, but you don’t want to go above mid/upper 60’s ideally if you’re going for the clean flavor that is the hallmark of 1056.
One thing I will add is that if you start high, then finish low with a lot of ale yeasts you run the risk of generating a lot of diacetyl that the yeast might not want to clean up so fast at lower temps. Make sure you taste before packaging. If you notice any buttered popcorn/butterscotch type flavors then bring the beer up to the upper 60’s for a couple days to help the yeast clean things up.
