Beer Forum

Hello I read with some recipe's that tell to ferment at a certain temp for like 3 to 5 days an start rising the temp. Now are these 3 to 5 days count right after i pitch the yeast into my wort or after I start to see the first sings of active fermetation is that when I start count the day's

I would say that it is counted from time of pitching (more or less). I almost always bump up my temps a tad towards the end of fermentation to encourage proper attenuation with my yeast. I usually start to wait until the krausen just starts to drop back into the beer until I do this.
Some beer styles (Belgian) can benefit from warmer ferment temps too, but taste better if the fermentation is kept under control for 48-72 hrs first prior to bumping up the temps to increase esters/phenolics in the finished beer.

As you probably know, yeast fermentation is exothermic (gives off heat), so the temperature will rise above ambient temperature anywhere from 3° to 10° depending on the original gravity. The temperature will drop back to ambient temperature after about 3 days.

Raising the temperature at that time will keep the fermentation temperature at that same elevated level. If your initial ambient temperature is too high your fermentation temperature runs the risk of rising high enough to produce unwanted esters and fusel alcohols. Basically you want to make sure your fermentation temperature doesn't rise above 70-72° for most beers during the first part of fermentation (saisons are an exception).

Generally, the reason for raising the fermentation temperature after 3-5 days is to make sure the beer ferments out all the way. At that point additional ester production will be pretty low.

All this said, most of my beers ferment out at about 67-68° and I almost never raise the temperature. For most beers, if you control the unfermentable sugars, you not have to raise the temperature during fermentation.

No basicly what i am asking is what count as the first day of fermentation is it right after I pitch the yeast into my wort or is it once I start seeing first sign's of fermentation ?

Others may think differently, but my preference is to start counting once I see signs of fermentation. The reason is that I want to keep the esters locked down as much as possible in the early part of the fermentation, so giving it the extra day or two low helps cement that lower ester profile.

All that said, Try it both ways and see if you can tell the difference.
Most likely, you probably can't tell unless you got a REALLY long lag time. That's the cool thing about this hobby. There really isn't a "right" way to do everything.

Also, if I was making a Saison, I'd start counting right away, or not even count, just let it free rise all the way up into the 80s.

HTH-

Since every batch is going to be different (even the same recipe), counting days isn't a hard/fast rule. Basically you're looking for when the fermentation really slows down. Count the seconds between bubbles in your airlock. Once that gets to, say, 30+ seconds (again, not a hard number) then you'll want to start raising the temp.

The important thing is to keep it cool when the fermentation is super active.

Experiment. Have fun. Take notes. The only wrong way to do it is BDawg's way.

Don't mind Ozwald. He's just a douche.

I'm pretty sure the OP is asking about the newer idea of applying Tasty's lager fermentation temp step-up process even to ales as well as lagers.

Allekornbrauer wrote:No basicly what i am asking is what count as the first day of fermentation is it right after I pitch the yeast into my wort or is it once I start seeing first sign's of fermentation ?

Start counting from pitching. There is activity before you are able to notice it.