Beer Forum

Ok so Jamil says ferment at 62 deg F and yeast pack says pitch at 70 deg F min and wait until activity starts. Do I then drop to 62 deg F? I do no not want to shock the yeast so they go dormant. I know from the shows that we should be pitching at fermentation temp. Help!!!!

The package instructions are what is optimal for yeast propagation. Jamil's instructions are what is optimal for the beer. I generally view the low end of the temperature range on the package as the absolute maximum temperature at which you can ferment a yeast in a beer without getting unwanted ester formation. Most of my beers are fermented in the 65-67 degree range. Make your starter at the package range but pitch at fermentation temperature.

Wayne

A traditional rule of thumb for weizen ferments is that your pitching temp and fermentation temp should add up to 30ËšC. If you pitch at 14Ëš you'd ferment at 16Ëš. And so on. I like the 13/17 mix myself.

It also depends on what you want from your yeast. I've got buddies that love banana bombs esp. in their dunkels. (IMO, i think they aren't as iso-amyl acetate sensitive as most people) They say they shoot for banana bread'ish levels/flavors. They ferment much higher than I would, but they get what they want.

+1 on everything bug said.

I can't really add any additional information, as Bug and Apres gave you what you need to know. For what it's worth I kegged a dunkelweizen this morning. Although I did not adhere to the 30ËšC rule, I fermented it at 65 and from a taste of the flat beer, it's going to be very good. Just enough banana/clove to discern, but not a banana bread beer.

Thanks for the tips. I ended up pitching a little warm 68 deg F. Co2 started generating about 8.5 hours after pitching. I took 4 hours to drop it it 64 deg F. It has a good fermentation going. hopefully not too many off flavors where generated. I have not started using starters, but will start on the next one possibly.