IPA Yeast
What yeast strains should I consider using for an IPA or pale that will ferment well in a guest room at about 70 degrees? It will be stable room temps but with no other temp control?
- 17 Replies
Safale US-05 is my go-to ale yeast, especially for fermenting around that temperature. It’s a great general purpose yeast that works well at room temperatures and it’s perfect for IPAs/pale ales. It’s been around forever and even with all of these amazing new yeasts, Kveik, etc, US-05 is still my workhorse yeast.
Agreed on S-05. I been using it for years, and it never lets me down. Yes, you’re at the top of the ideal temperature range, and yes, if you were a professional brewer worried about beating out competition you might worry about minor off flavors, but at a homebrew level and without temperature control, I wouldn’t worry about it.
That’s what I’m worried about. The ideal temperature range is 59 to 71 for US-05. Since the active fermentation will be 5-10 degrees warmer than room temp, that puts the active fermentation in the 75-80 degree range. Won’t that cause bad flavors?
I guess my point is that if you’re not making the jump to temperature controlled fermentation, that you’re going to have to accept some small level of off flavors. I used to use S-05 about 95% of the time I was brewing, and that was before I did temperature control. I probably did at least 50-60 batches of pale ales and IPAs with S-05 without temperature control just fermenting in a spare room that was about 70-72. It’s not perfect, but I’d recommend temperature control if you want perfect.
I’ve done a ton of brews with no controlled fermentation temperature with US-05 and not had any issues. Over several years of brewing with it, I’ve really only had 1-2 beers that didn’t come out at least “good”.
Any other options you can recommend? I want to try something new but I’m not ready to spend a bunch of money on a fermentation chamber…yet.
S-04, S-05, and Nottingham are all good options. If you’re really worried about the temps (I wouldn’t be) you can do some evaporation cooling. You can pretty easily drop the fermentation temp 5-10 degrees by placing the carboy in a pan of water, soak a towel in the water and wrap the carboy keeping the bottom of the towel in the water to absorb then place a fan to blow on it. It works pretty well but you can’t get the temperature dialed in exactly.
I have achieved some degree of evaporative temperature control by switching the fan on and off with a cheap t-stat. Could probably use a timer as well.
Interesting Jerry! The same type of evaporation system that Jake recommended? What type of thermostat? Like an inkbird? Any chance you have a picture of that setup? Thanks!!!
Not set up now so no photos. It was just an old towel wrapped around a carboy and setting in a tub. Capillary action keeps the towel wet(ish). As I recall I drove the fan with a Parallax Basic Stamp although nearly any T-stat could be made to work. The bad news is this works best when the RH is low. In my location that occurs in the Winter when we are in the heating season and there a lot of other and maybe better options.
Use Kveik – we always talk about how amazing it is at 90-100 degrees, but Kveik works great at 70 too – just slower. Try Voss. You might not get the citrus notes that you get from fermenting hot with it, but it will be good and clean and you won’t get off flavors.
I completely agree with the Voss I just used the voss kviek on an NEIPA that turned out fantastic brewed at 87
THANK YOU! Finally someone answers with something other than defending the same yeast. (kidding – I appreciate your help guys!)
I’ve never brewed with Kveik because I didn’t have a way of keeping it hot. I didn’t know you could brew at room temperature with it.
Do you know what type of IPA you’re brewing? I did a tropical hazy type and I used OYL-200 tropical IPA yeast because someone recommended it to me. It was definitely my favorite beer I’ve ever made.
I don’t really have a specific type – just looking to figure out what a good general purpose one would be for where I ferment. I like the sound of a tropical IPA though! I love the Sierra Nevada Tropical Torpedo and would like to brew something similar.
I have switched to Kveik Hornindal for all my summer and early fall Brews. No need to worry about temp control
That’s what I was going to suggest, or Lutra for a cleaner flavor profile.
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