Pitching at lower temperatures

[Mervyn]

For my next brew I'm thinking of leaving the boil to cool for longer to try and settle out more of the hops to prevent blocking my bazooka filter. The only issue with this is that I brew in the garage where the temperature is currently a brisk 6C if I leave too long is there an issue with pitching the yeast at that temperature and allowing the wort to come back up to ~20C for fermentation?

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[Matt in Birdham]

How long are you planning on leaving it to settle? I leave mine for about an hour after cooling, and lose less than one degree - also brewing in the garage. If you want to leave it even longer you could always chill to a few degrees higher than you usually do.

[Kev888]

+1, it does depend how big your volume is but usually an hour or so left to settle won't bring the wort anywhere near 20c let alone below it. As the wort cools the rate at which it drops in temperature will slow.

Its not good to let the cool wort hang around too long before pitching the yeast, it gives time for any competition for the yeast to get established, so I wouldn't over-chill and then re-warm unless you have a way to do so reasonably quickly. Similarly, pitching way too cool (below the yeast's recommended range) can delay them getting underway which again gives more time for any competition to gain a foot-hold. Pitching 'slightly' cool is sometimes done on purpose (and with a good pitching rate) to control the rate of growth, or say with wheat beers to affect the finished flavours.

[Aleman]

I've done it, and the Czech brewers do it. The key to doing it successfully is to pitch huge amounts of yeast, something like 100g of yeast is not necessarily too much for 23L when pitching at 6C . . . My wyeast propagator smack pack was definitely not enough . . . although as the temperature stayed at 4C for 4 days . . . no harm was done and I just warmed it up to 10C (it was a lager) and fermentation took off within 8 hours.

[orlando]

What are you brewing is a factor, if Ale then below 15c and you are running a risk that the yeast will not compete quick enough with other undesirables. Take the advice to coll a couple of degrees above pitching and leave covered, no problems with DMS at this point. If blockage of your filter is a problem there are other approaches. If you are looking for a lot of aroma, instead of loading the kettle with late or steep hops go for dry hopping instead, less veg less blockages.