Hopefully Porterhaus doesn't mind too much; the "derails" on this forum are frequently where the most interesting discussion occurs…
With the caveat that I've only fermented a large numbers of batches (I'll arbitrarily say >50) with a handful of strains, I can definitely say that the effect is strain-dependent. With lager strains - and again, that would include Chico - temperature seems to be much less important. That said, I've never deliberately fermented a lager above about 15°C.
As far as ale strains, UK and UK-derived yeasts seem to express more temperature effects. One of the big reasons I picked 1272 as a house ale yeast was that it can taste so different when using different temperatures. Pitched at 16°C it hits all the marks for a pseudo-lager West Coast-style ale; at 21°C it's "British-y". 1968 doesn't exhibit quite that same variability, though that may be because it's so sluggish at low pitching temperatures that it's simply a *different* stress character. I can definitively say that if your glycol goes out and the temperature runs away it gets unpleasantly estery, but that's getting up into the 25°C range.
Belgian strains are probably impossible to generalize - even calling them "Belgian strains" implies a commonality that doesn't really exist. I've played with some (Chimay comes to mind) that are fairly tolerant of pitching temperature variations, and other that can be completely different yeasts (the Chouffe strain is frustratingly sensitive variations of even a couple degrees).
Of course, I don't have an HPLC, so this is all anecdotal. And for the record, I'm assuming roughly a 1-2°C cooler fermentation for a 5 gal batch than for 15+ bbl, although that pressure/temperature relationship is probably yet another thing that's strain-dependent.
Topic: Fermentation Heaters... (Read 10739 times)
