my fermentation hit 90 overnight

dsdrake219 · 08-05-2009, 07:24 PM

so yesterday i brewed a dark belgian (76 og) using safale t33 or whatever

i wake up this morning and its bubbling its a$s off, listening it it while half asleep i notice an abrupt stop in bubbles.. so i get upto see whats wrong and i touch my fermenter and its WARM

i did a temp check and its 92 .. so i have it in an ice bath and covered in wet tshirts..

im not too worried about this

i know "never throw out homebrew) and i wasnt planing on it.. i have some questions tho.

1 might my yeast be dead?
its sitting at 1.026 currently
2 should i still go on with my plans of adding candi sugar to dry he beer
will i need to add more yeast?

i dont really know what to do now..

help

WorryWort · 08-05-2009, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dsdrake219

1 might my yeast be dead?
its sitting at 1.026 currently
2 should i still go on with my plans of adding candi sugar to dry he beer
will i need to add more yeast?

i dont really know what to do now..

help

Your yeast is should be fine. Many yeasts stop at higher temps, they will restart when the temp goes back down.

I would have added the sugar earlier, in the boil, myself. But I see no reason why you should change your plans.

I also don't think you need to add more yeast, but the only way to know is to proceed as normal and then take gravity readings with your hydrometer once the temps get normal again. If the gravity gets where you want it to be, then you are fine, and if not you'll need to add more to get your desired result. It's just not possible for anyone else to tell you that right now.

Tonedef131 · 08-05-2009, 08:19 PM

How did it get so warm over one night? Did you pitch pretty warm?

The yeast aren't going to be dead from getting into the 90s, but it's not healthy for them. Chilling them down rapidly like that is going to cause a lot of them to fall asleep and drop out of solution.

**Revvy** · 08-05-2009, 08:24 PM

Actually you are lucky that you are making a belgian, and not some sort of a light ale....that's part of the magic of belgian yeasts- the high temp funkiness.

I had to actually put a ceramic space heater in front of the belgian dark strong I was brewing this winter to even get my yeast to krauzen.

It's a big beer, so it will need some more conditioning time anyway...so if there's any negative flavors, they will mellow out with conditioning time anyway. But you probably will just get some nice peppery and other esters associated with Belgians...it's not flawed...It's just "complex."

Rdwhahb

dsdrake219 · 08-05-2009, 08:31 PM

thats good to hear
the temp is starting to drop now.. i know last time i used this yeast i got into high 70's and came out with a light banana flavor this time im sure to have a banana shake.. at least i was already planing to give this a lot of age

i pitched at like 75 in 70 ambient temp and it hit 90 in right around 13 hours
its not that cold of an ice bath.. i ran out of ice.. so im going to hope i dont lose much yeast and the candi sugar im putting in will probably help them out

broadbill · 08-05-2009, 08:47 PM

wait...it went from 1.076 to 1.026 overnight?????

hamiltont · 08-05-2009, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by broadbill

wait...it went from 1.076 to 1.026 overnight?????

Surprised it's not on the ceiling...

dsdrake219 · 08-05-2009, 09:06 PM

i have a blowoff tube in and 2 gallons of room in the top of the fermenter
altho when i looked intside and got the sample out for reading the krausen never got that high anyway, used irish moss and took in no hop mater or anything else really.. dont ask me..

..but then again the reading could be off a bit. it was taken @90 degrees

hamiltont · 08-05-2009, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dsdrake219

..but then again the reading could be off a bit. it was taken @90 degrees

1.026 @ 90 is about 1.030. That's still smokin' !!!

**Revvy** · 08-06-2009, 01:37 AM

Read the story of my surprise change in ambient temp beer here and how it ultimately turned out....there is even a follow up to it deeper in the thread, where I discovered an even older 6er of the beer at a party, and people raved about it.

Of course it wasn't a Belgian...so the off flavors were noticable...

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/never-dump-your-beer-patience-virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/