I have no experience with higher temp yeasts, perhaps others do.
Although, I’ve been itching to try Hothead/Kveik for some time now.
In the winter, I switch to Nottingham yeast when my basement gets very cold.
Yep. Same here. They may produce beer at high temps, but for me that doesn’t matter if I don’t lime the beer theu make.
I sometimes change the environment toward the end of primary fermentation by raising the temperature to get the beer to more easily get to terminal gravity. That change amounts to raising the temperature from like 65- 67 degrees to maybe 71 or 72. I don’t change the temperature until the gravity has dropped to within a few points of terminal gravity to avoid producing unwanted esters and phenolics early in the ferementation.
In terms of fermentation temperatures in the mid 70’s to mid 80’s, if you’re not going to go with a kveik strain, I’d venture to say that your best bet is probably a Belgian ale strain. But that’s just me, YMMV.
Yeast purveyors (farmers? ranchers?) often have charts that list the specs on all of their strains including recommended fermentation temperature ranges:
Wyeast has this handy dandy thingy that lets you select strains by temperature among other factors:
And then there are folks who have created lists that try to match up yeast strains from one brand to the other in case your local home brew shop is out of White Labs and you need to use Wyeast or vice versa:
https://www.txbrewing.com/yeast-substitution.html
Google is your friend here …
And I have personal experience that says the yeast companies may not always know the best temps.
YES!
couldnt agree more.
…and I have person correspondence with a major supplier and a conference presentation from another describing the trials they conduct to determine their recommendations.
I guess it comes down to who do you trust: some random Homebrewer fermenting in their basement who just happens upon a scenario that worked once or twice …or a global mfr that wants their customers to have successful results so they’ll continue to buy their product with a laboratory and a professional panel using industry standards that conducts controlled trials across a spectrum of scenarios to determine a recommendation.
I have no doubt some of them test some strains. I know for a fact that not all of them test all strains. This is not homebrewer speculation.
Started a batch of Brown ale on Monday. Fermentation vigorously started within a couple hours. On day 3 it slowed waaaay down. Temps in my area are considerably cool for this time of year. Morning average low is 57 degrees. I have it fermenting in my bedroom closet. Could it be because of cool temps that yeast have slowed down? First time brewing beer however I’ve been fermenting mead for over 10 years, never had this happen. I guess time will tell if yeast becomes active again.
Maybe, or it could just be that fermentation is progressing. What is the temp of the beer? That’s what matters.
Right, because even if the ambient temperature is 57 the beer will be higher because of heat generated by fermentation.
As Denny mentioned, ambient temperature and internal temperature usually do not match during active fermentation because, to use a big word, fermentation is exothermic. The little yeasty beasties are reducing polysaccharides to monosaccharides and monosaccharides to carbon, which they transform into energy. That process releases heat. I remember watching a series of videos on VHS tape that were created by Micheal Jackson (the beer hunter, not the singer) where he was in a fermentation room at a German brewery. What was interesting to see was that there was frost on the outside of the fermenter, but fermentation activity appeared to be very strong.