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?
what do you think?
Thanks!
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.