Hello! for a porter recipe using windsor dry yeast (or any british liquid yeast), do you think it would be better to have a fermentation temp profile starting from low 60’s and finishing at 68 for a clean flavor, or starting at low 60’s and letting raise it for free in order to have more esters? which of those temp profiles would be better for the style?
I use WLP029 for my porter and try to keep it as cool as I can without stunning the yeast, start out around 64 and try to hold it there the whole time, although I don’t worry to much if it goes up at the end. I don’t know how well it compares with the style guidlines but I like a pretty clean yeast character with my porter.
What do you want your beer to taste like? That should guide your decision.
I like porter fairly clean tasting but not opposed to some yeast character. I recently brewed a porter with S04 starting at 62F for three days, let it rise to 65F for a week and then four days at ambient. Came out great. Very clean flavor and good attenuation.
My feeling on this is - if you’re using an English yeast strain, you probably want to get a bit of that English yeast character in your beer. Personally, I use US-05 for my porter because I want a very clean yeast.
I ferment my porters at about 62 F the whole time, maybe raise the temperature to 65 F in the last 1/4 of fermentation but it is optional. English yeasts are fine with the coolness.