Featured Product Ranges
For our entire product range - click hereToo Hot to Handle
Summer is well and truly upon us and for brewers of Beer, Wine and Cider, temperatures can adversely affect the results of your labour when fermenting.
Finding funky tastes in your brew? Try Temperature controlled fermentation. Around 3/4 of the flavours found in beer, ciders and wines are from the fermentation stage, either from the yeast strain used or from the temperature at which it ferments. The rest come from hops and malt or sanitary issues in the cases of beer. In Ciders, fruit choice and sanitary issues while in wine, oak, fruit varieties and sanitary issues contribute the rest.
We'll use lager yeasts as a classic example:
Lager yeasts will produce a clean and crisp beer when fermented in a temperature range between about 8 &12º C then once they've consumed most of the sugars (malt) in the brew, they should be warmed up to around 18º C for around 2-4 days. This warmer stage is known as a diacetyl rest. Diacetyl, is a compound formed by the yeast in the cooler phase of the fermentation. It tastes a little like buttered popcorn or to some, like a butterscotch and detracts from how a lager should taste.
Most Ale yeast varieties prefer temperatures ranging from 15-18° C. Cider yeasts tend to do better between 18 & 22º C.
The easiest way to manage the temperatures during fermentation is to get an old fridge and use a plug and play (no wiring required) Temperature Controller. These simple devices will open a world of opportunity to use superior yeast strains and to treat the yeast well while they take on the hard task of making your beer for you. Look after the yeast and your yeast will look after your beer.
Mangrove Jacks have also just released a new fridge controller of excellent quality. It will be released in the next few days on the website after testing has finished.