On Monday I’m going to pour 5 gallons of strong scotch ale (OG ~ 1.125) onto a yeast cake of White Labs WLP028 Edinburgh ale yeast, so the pitching rate should be pretty spot on for the gravity. My only question is what temperature to ferment the beer, depending on which room I stick the carboy the ambient temperature can vary from 59-61F, 62-64F, and a closet that drops to 50-52F at night. I’ve read numerous posts (and the scotch ale book) suggesting fermentation temps from 55-60F for this kind of beer, but White Labs says this yeast does not ferment well below 62F. Any suggestions?
Go with the 62F-64F room.
Dave
I dont have any experience with brewing strong scotch ale, or using WLP028 but here are my 2 cents for what its worth.
First off put a blow off tube on the sucker. Its gonna go nuts. Second I would probably start the fermentation in the cold closet and keep on eye on it. If it takes off then wait till fermentation peeks then move it to the next warmer spot as it finishes up. Last let when its slowed down move it to the warmest spot to let it clean up.
My reasons for this is you do not want any solvent like hot alcohols dominating your beer, and I dont know how much esters that yeast strain will put out.
I would recommend keeping an eye on this beer because with such a big beer your going to want to make sure it attenuates. If fermentation starts to slow your going to have to warm it up.
Hope it comes out killer!
Cheers!
That seems like a good plan, I’m definitely most concerned about the first 24-36 hours. I fermented a golden strong at 65F ambient, but the second night it the carboy rose to 73F and the beer ended up a little hot. In the closet with a damp towel on it might help that first night or two.
If you put it in a closet at 50-52F, the yeast will stay dormant. It’s too cold.
Is that for ale yeasts in general or WLP028 specifically? I’m mostly worried about the yeast activity driving up the temperature for the first day or two.
very few ale yeasts will do well at 50-52 degrees. I would go with the 59-61 degree option and include a tub or water to moderate swings as much as possible. Different yeasts do have different temp ranges that they ‘like’ (and by like I mean that produce results that WE like) I think WLP028 likes it a bit cool. It is scottish after all 
so it probably wears a kilt in winter time. When I did a 60-/ with that yeast I set my temp control at right around 59 and kept it there and it turned out well.
Not relevant to 028, but I have a batch going with WY1007 at 52 and I’m getting blowoff from it.
Is that eqivalent to WLP029? That one does like it pretty cool.
I have had issue with WL recommendation for this yeast for some time now. If it truly is a Scottish strain, then it should be adapted to cooler fermentation temps (well, historically at least. With modern breweries the rules change a lot.). That said, I always use WLP028 at 58-62F and it chews through big beers nicely.