Beer Forum

Ok, so I'd like to get a Wee Heavy underway in the next week or so. Problem is temp control. I know Scottish/Scotch ales are fermented cooler bottom 60's, but how low can wlp028 or wyeast 1728 go? I can max out ambient temp at about 55 using the fridge I lager in. However this time of the year I can average my apartment closet to get to about 67 F while leaving myself freezing. Baseboard heating sucks ass; my apartment is a steady 85 F during the winter and around 95 in the summer, so I have to open all the windows in the winter.

But back to the question...would it be better to ferment this out with a proper yeast or hit it up with wlp833 (Bock Lager)? At what point is it not considered a Scotch Ale. Or do I try to go with the proper yeast and start off at about 65-68 F and move it into the fridge for two weeks and let it go at 50 F, pull it out for a week as a D-rest and go from there?

Thanks!

the book greg noonan wrote on scotch ales says to ferment at around 60 to 65 with a neutral ale yeast but pitch as much yeast for your OG as you would for a lager with the same OG. i think this promotes very little ester production ( no growth) and a somewhat higher attenuation for such low temps ( super high cell count)
this is however just what ive read in preperation for tackling this style.

I did a really great Wee Heavy early last year. I first brewed a 60 shilling with Wyeast 1728 and then pitched the wee heavy onto the entire yeast cake so I would have plenty of yeast. I fermented the beer at 66-67 degrees until finished. The thing went from 1.140 down to about 1.028-1.030 and tasted great. This beer reached it's peak flavor (and did well in competitions) after about a year of conditioning and shortly before the keg ran out . I skipped the lagering altogether.

Wayne

Thanks guys! I've been monitoring the temp in my apartment with a window in my bedroom open, close to the closet I'd be fermenting in. Looks like its a steady flux of 67 F to 71 F on a regular basis. Think 4 degrees back and forth will kill it?