Temperature Problem

I'm brewing my first batch of beer, an IPA with Salfale US-05 yeast and an SG of 1.074 or so. It's been fermenting well for the last 18 hours in my plastic bucket, but the temperature of the beer seems to be stuck at about 77 despite the fact that my apartment is a solid 70. I pitched at 82 or so. Am I screwed? Should I put it outside (mid-30s) for a few hours?

Thanks,

Anthony

82 is a little warm for pitching but not to the point of killing yeast so you should be fine.

Fermentation generates heat during it's process usually around 3-5 degrees, so during the active stages you be hard pressed to keep it around ambient temps, i wouldnt stick it outside but maybe closer to a window or glass door where it might be cooler.

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No you aren't screwed. You may have more estery flavors than expected, but if you dry hop you won't notice it much. You can put it outside as long as you keep a close eye on the temp. Or you could put the bucket in another bucket of cold water to drop the temp too.

EDIT: if you put it outside don't forget to bring it back in

Generally speaking your fermentation temperature can be as much as 10 degrees higher than ambient. I would speculate that this is also loosely tied to factors such as OG and yeast cell count. Remember, this is a chemical reaction - an exothermic one, meaning it gives off heat. Increase the reactants and you'll likely see an increase in products, heat being one.

The spec sheet gives 59-75 as the temperature range for this yeast. I would definitely make an attempt to get the temperature down, but probably not in such an abrupt fashion, though others might. The problem with putting it outside in 30° temps is that the liquor near the outside of the container will probably cool more than you're looking for since it is not being mixed.

Do a little reading on thermal shock and make a decision from there. And then RDWHAHB.

i think you will be ok but you dont wana get it cold too quickly and then try to warn it back up again and so forth. try and keep steady temp

So you suggest sitting it in the tub with cold water?

AnthonyCB said:

So you suggest sitting it in the tub with cold water?

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Put it in a small tub with water and some frozen water bottles, switch them out occasionally with new frozen bottles. Called a Swamp Cooler, just do a quick search

I (and a lot of others) put mine in a cooler of water and rotate out frozen two liter bottles of water to bring the temp down. I've found my beers to taste better once I started controlling temperature. Not that they tasted bad before...they just taste better now.

AnthonyCB said:

I'm brewing my first batch of beer, an IPA with Salfale US-05 yeast and an SG of 1.074 or so. It's been fermenting well for the last 18 hours in my plastic bucket, but the temperature of the beer seems to be stuck at about 77 despite the fact that my apartment is a solid 70. I pitched at 82 or so. Am I screwed? Should I put it outside (mid-30s) for a few hours?

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At this point, it will not be your best beer. Do yourself a favor and go to the yeast manufacturer's website, check the temperature range for the yeast you chose, and next batch do your level best to keep it within that range, preferably on the low side, as fermentation activity will surely raise the temps some.

Pitch at the low side, too. Like 62, unless you have a way to pitch at 70 then drop rather quickly to 62. Slightly longer lag time if you pitch at 62, but ultimately better beer.

To save this beer? - probably too late. The bulk of fermentation has already occurred at 77F instead of 65F - so you'll have some off flavors. With an IPA, significant dry-hopping may "hide" those flavors, and your next batch will be better!

It's never too late... The beer will be fine... if you have one, put it in your bathtub as others advised... SLOWLY cool it down to ~68 degrees or so. Keep it at that temp for the next 2 weeks. Let the temp go to 70 degrees for another week. Bottle or keg it after that.

High pitching temps may shock or kill your yeast. High initial fermentation temps can cause a fusel (strong alcohol/hot) taste in your beer. The good news is, at your OG, its already going to be strong. Like Hang Glider mentioned, it's also an IPA, strong flavor profile. It'll probably be just fine.

Come back ina month and let us know how it tastes.

ThePearsonFam said:

It's never too late...

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Didn't mean to imply that it is dead -
of course it will still be beer. And it is likely to be drinkable.

However, it will be far from optimum, and cannot be 'repaired.'

yeast don't die until somewhere upwards of 104F, so the OP didn't endanger them at all. Just not likely to get the best result, and a bit too late to go back and ferment at 65F or so...which is why I suggested a good dry-hopping.

all that said - MY first beer WAS undrinkable ! !

hang glider said:

didn't mean to imply that it is dead -
of course it will still be beer. And it is likely to be drinkable.

However, it will be far from optimum, and cannot be 'repaired.'

yeast don't die until somewhere upwards of 104f, so the op didn't endanger them at all. Just not likely to get the best result, and a bit too late to go back and ferment at 65f or so...which is why i suggested a good dry-hopping.

All that said - my first beer was undrinkable ! !

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completely agree... it'll probably still be pretty good since the style -can be- pretty concealing/forgiving.

Frankly, I'd get it cooled down quick. Common belief is that large or sudden swings are not good, but I highly doubt that dropping it to proper temp 1 time is going to be as bad as letting it produce off flavors for the next 2 days while you slowly bring it down.

Initial fermentation can be done in 2-3 days sometimes, and you def want it cooler during that time. After that, it really doesn't matter if it's a big high. They critical period will be over.

But either way, it will be "ok". Like others have said, it may not be the best it could be, but it will be decent beer, and at least you will know what to do for next time.

Don't bother on trying to cool it down. At this point, with S05, most of the sugar is fermented and a possible considerable amounts of esters are already there, no way around it. Your beer you likely have some fruity, or even some bubble gum hints to it, but will be decent and drinkable. Next time try to pitch when the wort temp is in the lower end of manufacturers recommended temperature. In high gravity ales fermented with robust yeasts, you can always anticipate a 5-10F increase in wort temperature (depending on room temp).

I did the same thing - pitched the yeast while it was 75, thinking it would "cool" to room temp of 70... not taking into consideration the heat generated during fermentation. After about 10 hours, when I realized the temp was not going to drop lower than 77, I put the carboy outside (it was about 55F) with a towel wrapped around the bottom 1/2. It took several hours, but I got it down to 68/70 and brought it back in where it's held that temp.

As it's my first batch... only time will tell if this worked or not.

I saw you mention and someone advocate going outside with the beer....if you do, BY ALL MEANS do not put it in the sun! the impact of sunlight on hops (especially in an IPA) will be horrific.

Something to keep in mind: At the end of fermentation the yeast start cleaning after themselves (their fermentation byproducts). If you cool the beer now, depending on how much, not only will the beer have been fermented at too high a temp, but you'll be risking a significant slow down in yeast activity during their clean up.

I'd let it finish fermenting/cleaning up at the current temp, maybe a few degrees lower if you can manage that (which will happen on its own, since the temp of the beer will go lower due to lower yeast activity).

Just my stab at it...

I just put the brew bucket in an 18 gallon rubbermaid container filled with 60 degree water. Have I just made things better or worse?