Looking for some experiences with 1318 cold ferment…
Just recently did a english blonde w/ blueberry puree. Did a 1L starter for a 5gal batch, aerated wort with pure o2 right before pitching. Wort temp at pitching was about 53f - 55f and I set the inkbird to 72f. The warmest it got was 68f - right at the end. I was hoping to ferment it a bit warmer than it should because I wanted it to produce some ester character. What kind of yeast character should I expect?
I’ve only ever used 1318 twice in a Bitter and neither time did fermentation get above 68° and neither time did I note any obvious esters. Nice malty flavors though.
I’d like to believe that the esters would show up if the ferm. temp was pushed into the low-mid 70’s, but I don’t know…
As temperature goes down so does the esters you’ll get. WY1318 has a distinct taste to me but it’s not aggressively ester-y even fermented consistently at the upper 60s or even into the low 70s. I use it quite a bit and tend to ferment it at 66-68F with a rise at the tail end to 70-71F. Still fairly subdued fruit flavors.