The Magic of Yeast

A little geekiness to start the day.

I brewed a batch of Summer Night Saison yesterday.  Not only is this a favorite style of mine, it's a great beer for homebrewers to make in the summertime.  This is one of the few beers that benefits from a ridiculously warm fermentation.

Backing up, most ales are fermented right around the 64-68°F range.  Homebrewers do not always have an extra refrigerator with a dial-in thermostat to ferment at those temps.  Summertime lagers are even tougher.

Saison, like the Honey Badger, don't care. 

You can let that bad boy get as hot as it wants, and the results will be wonderful.

Getting back to the geek.  After I pitched the Saison yeast, the beer was at a balmy 72°F.  I capped the fermenter temperature at 90°.  Eighteen hours later I get this:

The bottom, green number is the set point for the glycol.  The top, red number is the actual temperature inside the fermenter.

So, the yeast's thermogenic activity inside the fermenter has already brought the temperature up 13°!  It doesn't seem like much, but consider that I keep the brewhouse temperature at 68°F.

My guess is that by the end of the day, I'll hit that 90° cap and the glycol will keep things there.

This heat production will be short-lived, however.  Even the Duggar Family needed to rest from time to time.