2nd brew coming up – temp questions

[yadilos]

Hi guys,

I'm planning on my second batch this weekend and have a few questions I was hoping you could help with. All went well with my first brew, NB CS, except I fermented in a 66-67 ambient temp closet (thanks, poor NB instructions!). Not terrible, and looks like it'll turn out good. Oh, pitched at 66 degrees.

I plan brewing NB's Cream Ale now (for my non-microbrew loving friends and fam). Using US-05 yeast. I will ferment in my basement this time with a room temp about 62-64. With this in mind, is it best to pitch my yeast in the mid-60s (or lower), or is 70 better for some reason? Is the pitching temp tied to the fermentation temp???

Then, would you recommend regulating the fermentation temp or is just leaving the carboy in the ambient room temp of 62-64 okay? I would regulate doing my version of a swamp cooler: large bucket filled with water, wet shirt, frozen soda bottles rotated daily, etc. Then I could shoot for a low 60s fermentation temp.

Thanks much for your help!

 

[Pie_Man]

Most people recommend pitching the yeast closer to the low end of the yeast's temperature range.

Your basement's ambient temperature will be fine for the US-05 yeast. I'll add that, in general, the more accurate you can control fermentation temperature, the better. With some yeast strains, different temperatures even within the recommended temp range, will give different results. This might not be as critical with US-05 which is a pretty neutral tasting yeast. I've fermented it throughout the 60 degree temp range with no apparent difference.