Fermentation temperatures :drunk:

[swem]

So everything I have always thought that I read or listened to said ferment low, like around 65 or a bit above that. I know that belgians sometimes require a higher temp for some of the ester production, but even then most of the conventional wisdom said that If you went much higher than 72-74 that they would be over powering. Im brewing a belgian pale this weekend and the mangrove jack m 27 temp range is 79-90! Holy ****. I see a lot of their yeasts are calling for higher temps, and I even saw a pretty well respected dude around here say he fermented the workhorse at 80-82. These temps just seem crazy to me, are they, or is it really that yeast dependent?

 

[GuldTuborg]

or is it really that yeast dependent?

This. The best temperature for any yeast to function at, when things hit full throttle, depends upon a lot of factors, namely: your tastes, yeast strain, pitching temps, fermentor geometry, batch size, etc.

Some yeasts do just fine and the 80s and above. Most do not turn out their best that hot, though. It all depends.

 

[Calder]

Lager yeasts like to ferment cold to get a clean ferment, and many Belgians like it hot.

 

[Cider123]

The reason you generally ferment ale yeasts in the 60's is because they ferment cleaner. Meaning that they give off very few chemicals, like esters, that give various flavors to beer. Flavors that are not appreciated in many ale styles. Some of the "off flavors" you wouldn't want in any beer and those often come from strains of yeast that were not developed to function at higher temps.
Many Belgian beers are an exception because the style prefers many of those flavors which some call the classic Belgian "funk", such as you would find in a siason. Many belgian yeasts do their "thing" at the higher temps 70-80's. They were artificially selected to work at those temps. I have strain 3711 and when the summer comes, I let it go to town at those higher temps.