When a brewer ramps up the temp of their Ale in the primary “near the end of primary fermentation” to help the yeast finish thier job, are they doing it based on a gravity reading, airlock activity (assuming they had good activity at the start) or length of time? How much might they ramp it up? I assume the upper end of the range for the specific yeast they are using?
Not for any specific reason except that I want to open up my fridge for another fermentor, but I leave primaries in my fermentation fridge for 5-7 days at whatever temp I am fermenting at (currently have a Vienna Calypso IPA with Wyeast 1728 at 56˚). I then pull the fermentor out and let it sit at room temp for at least a week or two, or longer if it’s a bigger beer. I don’t even bother checking gravity until I’m at the 2-3 week mark. I’ve read that fermentation temperatures are only important during the first few days of fermentation. But on the other hand, I’ve read that traditional german hefe’s are fermented at the same temperature throughout the entire process. So I guess you could make an argument either way.
Lagers is a completely different story. I’ll check the temp on my lagers after about 5 days to see where it’s at. I usually then slowly raise the temp about 2-3˚ per day from whatever temp (50ish) to room temp over about a week. Then I’ll pull the fermentor out of the fridge and let it sit at room temps for 2-3 days for a d-rest. Then back into the fridge to lager at 35ish for anywhere from 4-10 weeks.
Sorry, not “check the temp” of my lagers after 5 days, but “check the gravity” of my lagers after 5 days.
It’s based on the gravity. Usually when 90% of fermentation is complete or you are within 5 gravity points of Final/Terminal gravity you ramp up the temp to get the yeast more active in an attempt to have them clean up some bad tasting byproducts that could have been produced during fermentation.
What would be a normal temp increase be using wyeast 1056 and fermenting at 65*?
Usually the top end of the yeasts’ preferred range. I think somewhere around 75*F. I usually just let mine free rise to room temp which at times is in the upper 70’s. They get a couple of days to clean up (sometimes a week) then I cold crash to drop out as much as I can.
mvsawyer, are you using a secondary after your temp increase, or are you doing all of this in the primary?
Sorry for late reply.
All done in the primary.
