cooler weather yeast selection

[warp1]

Looking for some advice.... With temperatures dropping, the mash temp gets below ideal temperature in my basement before it's done fermenting out. My preference is bakers yeast and slows to a stop below 70.

Would I be able to start my ferment with bakers at 80 degrees.....let her go for 5 days or so, then throw in a packet of US-05 that likes these cooler temperatures to finish it off?

Most of my ferments are in 55 gal plastic barrels with 24 gal of liquid....either all grains or gumballheads..

Thanks for your thoughts.

[rad14701]

I wouldn't suggest swapping yeast strains mid ferment... A healthy bakers yeast colony might devour any US-05 pitched... A better solution would be to insulate your fermenter or add a heat source to keep the bakers yeast happy in the mid to high 70's... Not too hard to make a quick and dirty hot box out of a cardboard box and either a ceramic heater or a light bulb...

[S-Cackalacky]

I wouldn't recommend mixing different yeasts - might work and might cause off flavors. Lalvin EC-1118 is a good cool temp yeast - works best between 65 and 75 dF. It's recommended for fruit washes, but many here have had great success using it with grains.

Another option would be to wrap your fermenters with some kind of insulator - a blanket, reflectex, or some other. My basement gets down right cold in winter, so I built a ferment box from a corrugated cardboard washing machine box with a light bulb inside for ambient heat. Others here have used electric blankets, heating mats, aquarium heaters, etc. There are many solutions to the problem.

Posted while Rad was posting.

[warp1]

Thanks guys...as always, good quick advice. I do have the barrels sitting on an insulated pad to keep them off the cold concrete and wrap all but the top in blankets....just seems temp drops about 4 days in. I do have an electric hot pad in my closet....will give that a go.

I didn't realize yeast wouldn't play nice together

[rad14701]

Temperature dropping is not unusual and nothing to worry about - within reason... It just means that there is less sugar for the colony to chow down on, which is a good thing... I was just discussing setting up a fermentation cabinet in the basement so I can regulate carboy temperatures when I migrate them out of the kitchen...

[bellybuster]

24 gallons is allot of thermal mass, if keeping temp for 4 days it may be finishing. The cooler temps after fermentation will help in clearing,
Check out some lager yeasts. They'll work at cold temps but may not give the flavours you're looking for

[warp1]

I don't think I have the pallet to differentiate all the various esters/flavors that yeast give. I stick to the US05 for Jimbos bourbon and follow it up with a sugar head....but have seen enough recommendations on here in support of plain old bakers yeast, that I don't really worry about it that much. I just know with bakers I prefer 70-80 degrees and US05 likes 60-70 (which works well in my basement). Bakers is so available and inexpensive....it's my go-to

It was mainly temperature concerns...but agree, it may be finishing.

Thanks for the input

[RevSpaminator]

If you are going to be fermenting in cooler weather you might want to research lagering on some homebrew sites. The yeast strains work better at colder temps but the process is slow. But if you can be patient the payoff is a smoother ferment and less heads to remove.

[warp1]

Well, definitely not finishing....SG only at 1.014 (finally got my refractometer ). Also noticed Ph is <4 so that could be it too. After reading some of Jimbo's posts....maybe I need to aerate a little better. I'm hesitant to adjust Ph until I read a little more up on it.....don't want to make the product taste like shit just to get a little more out of it.

Now that I have the refractometer....I'll take a few more measurements and narrow my problem down.

Might not be the yeast after all....I guess I was jumping to conclusions.