bufordsbest wrote:I'm fermenting an Oktoberfest right now and have a couple questions:
I pitched cold and let rise to 51F. I'm holding there right now and fermentation has just started to take off. I'll check gravities as I go and make the temp changes as outlined by tasty.
my question is are you just letting it free rise the 3F every time or are you heating? I have the ability to do both but I'm thinking a 3F boost with heat might be too aggressive. I started lower than 55F, should I be trying to finish as high as tasty or is the deg F in total rise all that matters?
also, if I don't want to filter at the end I'm going to have to lager to get yeast to settle out correct?
tks,
tg
I apply heat (heating pad on a 12 gal conical fermentor) to get the temperature rise and I don't think it's rough on the beer. In fact, the more rapid rise could further increase yeast activity. If your ambient is high enough, you could also let it free rise. Since you started lower then I don't see a problem with ending correspondingly lower.