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kendrid

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I am brewing the Austin Homebrew honey wheat partial mash. It's my seventh batch.

I cooled it to 70 with my wort chiller and then added the dry yeast (SafBrew T58). I then put the fermenter on my basement floor (basement is around 70 degrees, floor is a bit colder).

I just checked and it's bubbling away but the temp is 79 degrees. I've never had a beer ferment this hot. Should I attempt to chill it back to the 70 range where I normally ferment at or will 79 be ok? The yeast is obviously working, maybe it's the honey that's making it go nuts and raise the temp that much?

Confused...
 
Is the ambient temp hotter than it has been in the past?
Yes, if you expect it to taste like a clean wheat ale - you had better try cooling it down some.
 
The ambient temp isn't that much hotter than usual (maybe a few degrees).

I am moving it to the garage for the night. It will be in the mid 60s tonight so that should get it down a bit..hopefully.

edit: I moved it and wrapped it in towels soaked with cold water. Hopefully tonight it will get back down to normal.
 
Pick up a large cooler or tub for your fermenting. Set your bucket/carboy in that bucket, fill with water and cycle some frozen water bottles in it. The yeast activity will raise the temps well above ambient, and your will enjoh your best results if you can keep the fermentation within the range suggested by the yeast mfgr.
 
Thanks for the advice. This morning it was back down to 70 degrees. I put it back in my basement and will check it when I get home. I'll pick up a plastic tub to set it in to keep it cool during these summer months.
 
Cool that puppy off! With internal fermenting temps that high and the addition of honey, you're going to come out with a pretty astringent-tasting beer if you let it ride that high. I let me honey weizen ferment around 74 so I could get some of the weizen esters, but I still got some fusels even after 4 weeks in the bottle. The only thing I can think of (least common denominator) is the honey at higher temps.
 
Well, it remained at 70 after 12 hours.

It's history:
18th, 10:30PM Brewed/yeast added at 70 degrees.
19th, 10:30Pm I see it at 79. By 11 it's in the garage with outside temps in the 60s. A cold and wet towel is added.
20th, 7:30 am 70 degrees. Moved back to basement
20th, 8pm 70 degrees. No more bubbling (the airlock was going nuts the entire time). It either fermented all out in the high 70s or it's stalled or just trying to piss me off.

I wonder if this is my first ruined batch... I know, wait wait wait.
 
kendrid said:
I wonder if this is my first ruined batch... I know, wait wait wait.
Click to expand...

We preach fermenting at cooler temperatures to get a cleaner tasting beer. But even if you forget or don't know about fermentation temps....you'll still wind up with drinkable beer. More then likely, the beer will be sweeter tasting (though for this batch, looks like it was just a few hours at 79...so you minimized it): only you can say if warmer fermentation temps is a profile that you find great. :mug:
 
I would expect a fair bit of fusel production. Hopefully you caught it and got the temps down quick enough to minimize it, but longer conditioning may be in order to allow the "hot alcohol" flavors to subside a little.
 
Í also am having the same problem. I am a new home brewer and this is my first batch. I used a brew kit and hope to brew a nutbrown ale. My fermentation bucket was at 79 degrees for a couple of hours and bubbling like hell. It actually started bubbling just 10 hours after adding the yeast. Is this normal? Is the fermentation bucket suppose to be at a higher temperature when you first add it to the bucket after the boil? I used an ice bath to cool down the wort but the temp seemed to rise again. Right now I have it next to my a/c set at 64 degrees and the current temp of the fermentation bucket has dropped to 73 degrees. Am I too late? Do you think that my first batch is ruined?
 
I thought I'd have to do this.. but, happily, my in/out temps have been in the mid 60's. I was told to brew mine at 18*C. The first day it went at 20*C so I draped a wet towel over it and that brought it down to 18.. Been there for a couple of days now. I thought I'd have to do the water bath.. I found a great plastic tub with rope handles at Wal-Mart for about $6. I was ready with a freezer full if frozen water bottles to put one or two in every6-8 hours.. or what ever it took. Anyhow, the tub at WM is cheap.. easily fits a 5-6 gal carboy.
 
Glongo said:
Í also am having the same problem. I am a new home brewer and this is my first batch. I used a brew kit and hope to brew a nutbrown ale. My fermentation bucket was at 79 degrees for a couple of hours and bubbling like hell. It actually started bubbling just 10 hours after adding the yeast. Is this normal? Is the fermentation bucket suppose to be at a higher temperature when you first add it to the bucket after the boil? I used an ice bath to cool down the wort but the temp seemed to rise again. Right now I have it next to my a/c set at 64 degrees and the current temp of the fermentation bucket has dropped to 73 degrees. Am I too late? Do you think that my first batch is ruined?
Click to expand...

It's not ruined... RDWHAHB Everything is going to be ok. ;)
As others have stated, if it tastes a little off, just let it bottle condition for longer. :mug:
 
Thank you the tub idea was great... got one at stop & shop. Put the ice bottles in this morning. Last recorded temp was 72f and falling. Should I drop it way below 70F or just stop and maintain 70F
 
HbgBill said:
I thought I'd have to do this.. but, happily, my in/out temps have been in the mid 60's. I was told to brew mine at 18*C. The first day it went at 20*C so I draped a wet towel over it and that brought it down to 18.. Been there for a couple of days now. I thought I'd have to do the water bath.. I found a great plastic tub with rope handles at Wal-Mart for about $6. I was ready with a freezer full if frozen water bottles to put one or two in every6-8 hours.. or what ever it took. Anyhow, the tub at WM is cheap.. easily fits a 5-6 gal carboy.
Click to expand...
HbgBill thanks for the advice the Batch temp just hit 70*F. Thank You
 
Glongo said:
:confused:
Yooper do different yeast strains want to ferment at different temps? I am a new home brewer and this is my first batch.
Click to expand...

Yes! Although they usually overlap, some strains (like nottingham) do much better under 68 degrees than others! You will want to try to keep this at about 65 degrees as nottingham gets weirdly fruity and sort of foul at over 72 degrees. Nottingham is very "clean" at 60 degrees, though!

Some strains, like Northwest ale yeast, do better at a warmer temperature.

There is great information on each strain of yeast right on each manufacturer's website. For example, the nottingham info: http://www.danstaryeast.com/products/nottingham-ale-yeast and then click the pdf attached for more specific information.
 
Yooper said:
Yes! Although they usually overlap, some strains (like nottingham) do much better under 68 degrees than others! You will want to try to keep this at about 65 degrees as nottingham gets weirdly fruity and sort of foul at over 72 degrees. Nottingham is very "clean" at 60 degrees, though!

Some strains, like Northwest ale yeast, do better at a warmer temperature.

There is great information on each strain of yeast right on each manufacturer's website. For example, the nottingham info: http://www.danstaryeast.com/products/nottingham-ale-yeast and then click the pdf attached for more specific information.
Click to expand...
Yooper thank you for the info. I appreciate the advice. Been using a bucket and water with ice bottles every 6-8. Batch has been pretty steady at 64*F. But if I wait to long on the ice bottles it wants to shoot up to 68*F. The Bubbling in the air release has slowed is that normal? At first it was bubbling like hell. It's been just about two days in the fermenter.
 
Glongo said:
Yooper thank you for the info. I appreciate the advice. Been using a bucket and water with ice bottles every 6-8. Batch has been pretty steady at 64*F. But if I wait to long on the ice bottles it wants to shoot up to 68*F. The Bubbling in the air release has slowed is that normal? At first it was bubbling like hell. It's been just about two days in the fermenter.
Click to expand...

The bubbling will subside after awhile. Remember that the bubbling only indicates positive pressure underneath the airlock. Nothing more nothing less. Give it a week and take a hydro reading. Two days after that take another. If they are the same you're done fermenting.
 
browncoat said:
The bubbling will subside after awhile. Remember that the bubbling only indicates positive pressure underneath the airlock. Nothing more nothing less. Give it a week and take a hydro reading. Two days after that take another. If they are the same you're done fermenting.
Click to expand...
Cool Thank you. The temp remained at 79*F for the first 10 hours or so after the boil then I dropped it to about 64*F. Do you think that the first 10 hours will effect the batch much? It's been steady between 63*F and 66*F since then.
 
No it shouldn't. I just had had a batch that never got below 76° during the entire fermentation process. When I tapped it there was definitely an off flavor. However it mellowed out as we drank. Turned out just fine.
 
Glongo said:
:confused:
Yooper do different yeast strains want to ferment at different temps? I am a new home brewer and this is my first batch.
Click to expand...

I tend to ferment at the lower range for all the yeast strains I brew with. Here is one companies website. Poke around it and you will gain much.

http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_yeaststrain.cfm

IMHO - It was the control of fermentation temps via refrigerator and temp controller that moved the quality of my beer up a grade or two.
 
Glongo said:
Cool Thank you. The temp remained at 79*F for the first 10 hours or so after the boil then I dropped it to about 64*F. Do you think that the first 10 hours will effect the batch much? It's been steady between 63*F and 66*F since then.
Click to expand...

in my opinion, yes. The first day or two is intensely busy and that is a hot ferment. Warmer later is okay, but I make sure to ferment about 63F for the first several days at least.


Surly said:
I tend to ferment at the lower range for all the yeast strains I brew with. ...

IMHO - It was the control of fermentation temps via refrigerator and temp controller that moved the quality of my beer up a grade or two.
Click to expand...


+1,000,000
Temp Control was the single best thing I did for my beers. They went from "decent, and a fun hobby" to BEER!!!! even Excellent beer!
 
:mug:
Surly said:
I tend to ferment at the lower range for all the yeast strains I brew with. Here is one companies website. Poke around it and you will gain much.

http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_yeaststrain.cfm

IMHO - It was the control of fermentation temps via refrigerator and temp controller that moved the quality of my beer up a grade or two.
Click to expand...
Thanks all for your feedback everyone. I dont know how the barrel is going to turn out but the satilite smells great. In the beginning it smelt like horse feed water and now it smells like alcohol and BEER!!! Its an amazing process that I am glad to have experienced and plan to continue to experience. One question though. If I wanted to brew a batch of my own instead of using a brew kit how would I know how much of each ingredient to use. Is there a standard for a set amount, like 7lbs of malt, 5 ounces of grain, etc for 5 gallons or can you put as much or as little as you want of each ingredient?
 
Typically, you brew to a style. Like a Porter, Stout, Cream Ale, Lager, Pale Ale...

There is some great software out there, many of us use BeerSmith. When you pick the style you want, and begin adding the ingredients, the software will let you know if you're in style or out of style (there is a bit of leeway).

As a beginner, I would suggest brewing specifically to style a few times before wandering off the beaten path... so you can learn the process better, compare yours to commercial examples, etc.
 
:drunk:Well all I bottled my first batch. I took a small sip of what was left on the bottom and it tasted kinda sour. I hope I didnt screw my first batch up by letting it sit at 79*F for the first few hours tilL I got a bathing bucket. How much of the flavor changes during the bottling process? Does the bottom of the barrel generally taste bad? Next time should I send it into the Ice bath right away after the boil? These are all questions I have being a new home brewer. I ordered my second batch though! A starter beer kit XX stout. I hope this time I can get it right! I am determined to make good tasting beer!!!! Anyone got some good tips for a beginner?:eek:
 
Does no rinse sanitizer really work? How do I get everything to be completely sanitized if it's open to the air after it gets sanitized? I have a few books but......I would prefer hands on experience over a written page!
 
should I wash everything with soap and water before hand anyway or just use sanitizer? Can I use a nylon steeping grains bag over and over as long as it's washed? These are all questions that the books dont answer.....
 
Glongo said:
Does no rinse sanitizer really work? How do I get everything to be completely sanitized if it's open to the air after it gets sanitized? I have a few books but......I would prefer hands on experience over a written page!
Click to expand...

no rinse sanitizers are 'wet contact' sanitizers. You don't rinse them, but you don't dry them either. Sanitize just prior to use, and use wet. The trace amount of sanitizer will be undetectable in your beer, but any nasties coming into contact with the 'wet' will be killed.


CLEANING - soap and water, yes, but that can leave a film. Oxyclean is good for lots of things, even caked on crud - (rinse well). Commercial varieties include PBW (Powdered Brewery Wash).

so yes, CLEAN your equipment, store clean as well (clean before and after use is recommended by many). Then sanitize immediately prior to use.


Steeping - the product after steeping gets boiled, so no worries there...
 
:ban:ban
Hang Glider said:
no rinse sanitizers are 'wet contact' sanitizers. You don't rinse them, but you don't dry them either. Sanitize just prior to use, and use wet. The trace amount of sanitizer will be undetectable in your beer, but any nasties coming into contact with the 'wet' will be killed.


CLEANING - soap and water, yes, but that can leave a film. Oxyclean is good for lots of things, even caked on crud - (rinse well). Commercial varieties include PBW (Powdered Brewery Wash).

so yes, CLEAN your equipment, store clean as well (clean before and after use is recommended by many). Then sanitize immediately prior to use.


Steeping - the product after steeping gets boiled, so no worries there...
Click to expand...

Thank You for the advise it will be applied to this weekends batch :mug:
 
Glongo said:
Do I have to refrigerate my dry yeast until I use it?
Click to expand...

It is best if you do. It is not as critical as liquid yeast but you will have better results if you do. Plus they take up no space at all in a fridge.
 
I would like to take a moment to thank all of you that have guided me on my first ever batch of beer. It came out great and tasted awsome! I thought for sure it was gonna be a flop!! But thanks to great advise it turned out just fine. Got a XX stout in the bucket now and I have implyed all the tips right from the beginning on this one. Let you know how it turns out. Again thanks all.


Brew On! :rockin:
 
Got a few questions maybe someone can answer.......

1. How long can my beer last in the bottle either in the fridge or just in the bottle in the closet warm?

2. Can my beer go bad? Do i need to preserve it to keep it for long periods of time?

3. If it will go bad how do I prevent that?
 
1) if you did good sanitation, your beer will be fine. Mild ales, IPAs, APAs and wheats are best younger, Stouts and porters age well...
so, depending on style, it could be a long time! (months/years) - a good Barleywine actually needs to age a year or two (in my opinion)

2) Hops are natural preservatives, so...

3) see #1
 

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