catamount

Recipes 

Hello,
Just popped off the lid of my primary fermenter after 6 days, and I have a very strong alcohol smell. I have done some reading and found that sometimes this happens when the yeast is pitched at high temperatures, however, I pitched at the suggested temp (76F). Any thoughts or comments?

Yooper

Recipes 

76F is pretty hot, and if fermentation kicked off, it might have even got warmer during fermentation. Do you have a thermometer strip on the outside of the fermenter? That's a good way to check. What yeast did you use? Some yeast strains do fine at hotter temperatures.

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catamount

Recipes 

Safale -04
The side Fermometer says 72-74

catamount

Recipes 

thanks for your response. I feel like I am way more cautious now than in the past about my process, but this has happened the past 2 out of 3 times.

snailsongs

Recipes 

I do believe that 72-74 is on the hot side.....Most people here seem to advise temps in the low to mid 60's....of course it depends on what you're brewing, but I believe that the early stage of fermentation is the most important to keep the temp under control, as that is when a lot of the fusel (hot) alcohols, diacetyl, and esters are created. That said, I am a noob with only 9-10 batches under my belt over the last few months, though I'm officially thoroughly obsessed with pursuing perfection in brewing.

BierMuncher

Recipes 

What was your original gravity?

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catamount

Recipes 

OG was 1.054

catamount

Recipes 

This is a stout btw, a recipe I made up which has been good in the past.

Yooper

Recipes 

I'm guessing that the "hotness" will fade a bit, but next time try to ferment in the low to mid 60s if you can, and I think you'll notice a bit improvement. Temperature contol is the one best thing I've done to make better beers.

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dontman

Recipes 

The one best thing I have done to improve my beers is to not judge them until they been in the bottle for 4-6 weeks after fermenting for 4-6 weeks.

Any earlier than that and any off flavors or others concerns are meaningless. IMO, to try to diagnose a beer that has been in the primary for 6 days is absurd.

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