Unexpected side effects of using a starter

Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum

Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Fraser's BRB

Well-Known Member
Joined
28/9/15
Messages
365
Reaction score
216
Those following elsewhere will know I recently made and pitched my first starter into a, controversial, American Brown Ale OG 1.057, high crystal bill.

At this time of year I generally set my temp controller to half a degree higher than my desired ferment temp, hook up the heat pad/belt and know that over the fermentation time it will stay pretty steady during the day and fall overnight to be brought back up by the temp controller and heat pad. The opposite is true during the hotter months, half a degree lower than desired, fridge kicks in as it rises.

Prior to using this starter I've only used S-04, S-05 and S-23 with the above holding true for every brew.

Fermentation using this starter on WY1056 has been very active and this morning (roughly 36 hours) I noticed that the temp had risen to 1 degree higher than my set temp. I didn't think too much of it, just drew the conclusion that the heat pad had overshot. However looking again tonight (48 hours) it's still up there. I have now adjusted the temp control down by a degree to compensate.

I've read about the thermal effect of fermentation before, but never seen it. Does the above scenario ring true for others? Can I expect to see similar with all my starters?
 
Active yeast generate heat but if you have temp control I wouldn't be overly concerned with a degree!
 
I wasn't having a go !! You should see what 9 kg of sugar in 22 liters of water with a good spirit yeast does in the first few days, could go well into ten degrees over surrounding temp, beer is obviously on a smaller scale!
 
All good, I didn't think you were having a go at me. Text sometimes loses tonal nuance leading to misunderstanding:)
 
Using starters for a few years. Now days I start my fermentations 2C below the ferment temp and give them 36 hours to rise to fermentation temp. I almost never have to bump on the heat to get them up to fermentation temp. Strong, healthy ferments generate a lot of heat at the beginning.
 
Mardoo said:
Using starters for a few years. Now days I start my fermentations 2C below the ferment temp and give them 36 hours to rise to fermentation temp. I almost never have to bump on the heat to get them up to fermentation temp. Strong, healthy ferments generate a lot of heat at the beginning.
Efficiency. No use trying to cool your overheating brew. Just start it colder and let it raise its own temperature. :)
 

Latest posts

Back
Top