US-05 Temp Range

Northern Brewer General
1

I just brewed an AG batch of the American Rye Ale kit yesterday. Used the stock US-05 Ale Yeast.

I was hoping to ferment at 67, but since our temp controlled freezer is full, I setup a swamp cooler in my basement.

Temp has been holding steady for over 24-hours now at 60-62 and I haven’t added any ice or extra water to it.

I know it’s fermenting away just fine…nice layer of krausen and bubbles every 10 seconds or so - I’m just curious about the temp. If the recommended was 67, how will 60-62 change things?

2

I’m fermenting with S-04 at 62f in a wine cooler and its chugging along nicely, though less vigorously than if I was maxing out at my 75 degree room temp. According to iBrewmaster, both S-04 and US-05 are min 59f max 75.

3

us-o5 is very versitile. i ferment with us-05 at around 60 all the time. it has a range of 54 -77 degrees with the ideal being 59-72. '05 produces a well balanced beer with low diacetyl and a very clean, crisp end palate. Forms a firm foam head and has a very good ability to stay in suspension during fermentation with apparent attenuation of 81%.

4

Yeah, I’m not worried about the temp itself…more so how the lower end of the temp will affect the flavor of the American Rye Ale.

5

Pitch at 62F and ferment at 64F (beer temp) is my standard routine with US-05 and it’s happy in that range (and makes great beer, too).

6

I often ferment US05 at 60F on the dot. Makes for a nice clean beer. US05 is the #1 yeast in my brewery.

7

The temp dropped down to 58 when I checked this morning. Still bubbling away though.

I realized that the heat vent in the ceiling in that room was closed, so I opened it up. Hoping to get the temp back up into the low 60s

8

[quote=“stompwampa”]I realized that the heat vent in the ceiling in that room was closed, so I opened it up. Hoping to get the temp back up into the low 60s[/quote]When we talk fermentation temps, we’re usually talking beer temp, not ambient, and fermentation creates heat, so an ambient temp in the upper 50s means the beer itself is likely in the 60-62F range right now.

9

I have the carboy in a swamp cooler wrapped in a t-shirt. The temp I’m reading is from the fermometer attached to the side of the fermenter, which is underneath the wet tshirt - so the beer itself is probably at the 58-60 range - unless I’m supposed to add a few degrees to those?

10

Your fermometer is a pretty good indication of actual beer temp. US 05 will work just fine at those temperatures, it will just be very clean. Temp matters most at the beginning, so raising temperature now isn’t going to change flavor profile much. Bringing it up some toward the end can help make sure you get good attenuation though.

11

To answer your second question, the lower the temperature (especially early in the fermentation) within the allowable active range the cleaner the flavor will be. You can make a pretty convincing “mock lager” using US-05 if you keep the beer temperature at 59-62F.

12

What would the flavor profile be like if I started fermenting at 67 like I was shooting for?

I’m not concerned at all that the beer will taste bad - I’m just not sure how much the temp range for this yeast actually affects the flavor of the final product.

13

I’ve made alts and kölsch style beers using 05 at 50*F.

14

What would the flavor profile be like if I started fermenting at 67 like I was shooting for?

I’m not concerned at all that the beer will taste bad - I’m just not sure how much the temp range for this yeast actually affects the flavor of the final product.[/quote]

some say s-05 will produce a slight peach-like ester at the low end of its temp range, whereas the other brands’ Chico strains do not. I personally haven’t found this, maybe its below my threshold or just a load of malarkey. I’m actually thinking of doing a cream ale @ 60-ish with S-05 very soon.

15

[quote=“stompwampa”]What would the flavor profile be like if I started fermenting at 67 like I was shooting for?

I’m not concerned at all that the beer will taste bad - I’m just not sure how much the temp range for this yeast actually affects the flavor of the final product.[/quote]

all in all us05 is a pretty clean tasting yeast. but high 60s into 70s it will create some fruity ester and phenols. they are just yeast created flavors, sometimes they are desired in certain styles and other styles they would be considered flaws. Some british beers a lot belgian beers for example are all about yeast esters in the final product. alot of american style (PA, IPA, Ambers) are about clean malt or hop flavor.

for me like shadetree said 62- 64 is the sweet spot for this yeast.

16

Thanks everyone. I’ll get this back up to 62/64 and hold’er steady.