pitching cold

[fletcher]

hey guys,

i just wanted to know about my upcoming brew and the pitching temp.

i have a cube now sitting in the fridge at about 5C and the yeast there as well ready to go. is it possible just to pour it into the fermenter to give it a big old splash and then pitch the yeast too then slowly let rise to my ferment temp of 18-20C?

it's an ESB and yeast is wy1968.

just worried it's too cold and the time it takes before it starts to ferment. is it ok to do this or better to let them warm up a bit?

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

As long as you yeast and wort are the same temps.

Being cold wont hurt it, just means it will take longer to kick off.

Yeast still works when its cold. Its just a lot slower.

 

[fletcher]

As long as you yeast and wort are the same temps.

Being cold wont hurt it, just means it will take longer to kick off.

Yeast still works when its cold. Its just a lot slower.

any effect on it with the gradual rise in temp in my ferm fridge to get it up to 18-20C?

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Nope. Just a bit of lag.

 

[mkstalen]

Why have you kept the ESB fresh wort kit in the fridge?

If it were me I'd pull the esb out of the fridge let it come up to room temperature over night, the pull the yeast out and pitch it when it's at room temperature too.

I always thought the longer it take for the yeast to kick off the higher the chance if infection.

Thats just me though...

Sent from my Samsung S3 using Tapatalk.

 

[fletcher]

thanks for your help guys. it's not a fresh wort kit, but my own no-chilled AG ESB. i kept it in the fridge as it was quite hot when i brewed it and didn't want it sitting in constant 20+ heat.

 

[mkstalen]

Ah. That makes a little more sense.
Although if the no-chill worked properly it shouldn't matter if it's at 5 or 20.

Sent from my Samsung S3 using Tapatalk.

 

[manticle]

I agree with stu - make sure the starter temp is similar to the wort temp. However, can't you just take it out of the fridge and let it come to ambient?

I always pitch a few degrees cooler than intended ferment temp to allow for fermentation generated heat - with no chill you can afford to be very specific.

 

[Steve]

Bring it up to your 18-20 and then pitch the starter which is also at 18-20

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

The fermentation will help it warm up.

 

[verysupple]

I think there are a few things to consider.

If you want a very clean beer with minimal esters etc. then pitching cold and letting it slowly warm up to the desired fermentation temperature is a good technique. If you want it a bit more estery, then pitching warmer at about the fermentation temp would be better. Remember that if pitching cold you will need to pitch more yeast than if pitching warm. So, if you've grown a starter of appropriate size for pitching warmer, then pitching cold might not be the best option.

Also, there's no harm in pitching cold yeast into warmer wort. They sense the rise in temp and rev up nicely. What you don't want to do is pitch warm yeast into cooler wort.

So ask yourself, what are you trying to achieve flavour-wise, and how much yeast do you have?

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Being an ESB you would want it clean. Remembering that England is generally cooler than here so ferm temps tend to be slightly lower.

 

[fletcher]

I agree with stu - make sure the starter temp is similar to the wort temp. However, can't you just take it out of the fridge and let it come to ambient?

I always pitch a few degrees cooler than intended ferment temp to allow for fermentation generated heat - with no chill you can afford to be very specific.

yeah i can do that, and i did today. let it come up to ambient with the yeast, and pitched. was at 18C. perfect.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I would have pitched at 16*, remembering yeast will add 1-2* tou your ferment temp.

 

[unionrdr]

It's a good idea to pitch the yeast (rehydrated dry or starter) within 10 degrees of the current wort temp to prevent shocking the yeast cells. This increases lag time & can even make for weaker yeasties that can stall later. I just had it happen with an Irish red & rehydrated S-04 yeast. I forgot to get the temps within 10 degrees of each other. Finally got it going again to finish. But fermenting at the lower end of the particular yeasts' optimal range is always a good thing to do. If you keep the FV in a cool area,it'll warm up slowly till initial fermentation is done. Then start to cool off again as it finishes fermenting. All yeasts have there ideal range,or "sweet spot" where they work best. Yeast manufactures PDF's are your friend...

 

[verysupple]

It's a good idea to pitch the yeast (rehydrated dry or starter) within 10 degrees of the current wort temp to prevent shocking the yeast cells. This increases lag time & can even make for weaker yeasties that can stall later. I just had it happen with an Irish red & rehydrated S-04 yeast. I forgot to get the temps within 10 degrees of each other. Finally got it going again to finish. But fermenting at the lower end of the particular yeasts' optimal range is always a good thing to do. If you keep the FV in a cool area,it'll warm up slowly till initial fermentation is done. Then start to cool off again as it finishes fermenting. All yeasts have there ideal range,or "sweet spot" where they work best. Yeast manufactures PDF's are your friend...

Yeah, if your yeast is warmer than your wort then you'd want to attemperate the yeast to within 10 C (preferably 5 C) of the wort. I've not found anything suggesting that pitching cold yeast into warm wort is a problem. In fact, a lot of smaller breweries do this because they either harvest their yeast directly from a cold conditioning unitank and pitch it right after, or store their harvested yeast in kegs as cold as they can (without freezing). They don't bother letting the yeast warm up before pitching. The commonly discussed issue of forming petite mutants seems to only be a problem when going from warm to cool, not the other way.

Here's one of the bits and bobs of info I've read over time. I'm sure there are better and more recent sources, but Google is your friend if you want to find them.

To confirm my seat-of-the-pants impression, I checked with Dr. Joseph Power of the Siebel Institute of Technology (Chicago). To the best of his knowledge, the brewing literature contains no study of precisely the issue of slow versus fast warming of a yeast slurry. The one study he knows that concerns thermal shocking of yeast by rapid warming was done by researchers outside the brewing industry, and their target temperature was about 122°F (50°C). In that experiment, thermal shock did occur; however, Power's opinion - based on years of experience and a broad knowledge of general industry practice - is that thermal shock is not a problem when you pitch a 32°F (0°C) slurry into pitching-temperature wort.

Full link

 

[LiquidGold]

I just pitched some us-05 into a kit stout at 14 or 15. Accidentally overshot by topping up with all cold water after having also chilled a smaller than usual boil. Thought it might be a problem but I had my yeast re-hydrated and waiting so i put it in the ferm fridge and set it to 15 and waited a while before pitching. Now I'll just leave it rise to 18 by itself and hope all works out well.

 

[unionrdr]

I've pitched yeast that was more than 10 degrees above wort temp & it took longer to visibly start fermenting. but get it to within 10 degrees & at high krausen 7 it takes off in a few hours. I just had it happen again with the saison I pitched on at 5:57pm yesterday. By the time I got up at 6:40am,it was bubbling merrily. The yeast was a wyeast smack pack of 3711 French saison. Dito with the rehydrated S-04 yeast in my ESB. Was done & cleared in 10 days after starting in just a few hours.