Damn heat wave... what off flavors to expect?

I'm making Denny's Wry Smile. The yeast is rated for 60-70 degrees. I brewed this yesterday and pitched around 5pm. It was 80 degrees at pitching, and I put into a swamp cooler an hour or two later which brought it down to about 78. I then added some ice and brought it down to about 72. I'm guessing that lasted for a few hours over night. This morning was a blowoff and back up to 78. I threw in a bunch of ice again and headed off to work.

Going to get home an baby sit it, but is the damage already done? If so, what kind of off-flavors should I expect and will they (hopefully) fade over time? What's the critical time window to ensure temperature control - first few days? I know it should always be controlled, but there's only so much I can do with what I have.

FWIW - I pitched a 2L starter from a stir plate (and that blew while on the plate!) so it's pretty healthy / active yeast, even though they're probably pretty sweaty right now...

It isn't an all-or-nothing situation - below the threshold is good, about not so much, back under and your good again. If you exceed the threshold 50% of the time during fermentation, your brew will have 50% of the off flavors than if it exceeded it the entire fermentation. Leave the brew in the primary a week longer and the yeasties will probably clean almost all of it up for you.

BTW - I live in Dallas (where we are on our 20th day of 100 degrres or more) and use the swamp cooler method, and keep my house at 79 degrees. I found freezing gallon jugs of water keeps the temps lower longer while I am asleep and at work.

Thanks for the tip. These small water bottles just aren't cutting it.

What heat wave? It was 41 degrees when I woke up this morning. :rockin:

Where you at tasty? Laska?

Frozen two liter coke bottles. Two in the morning and two before bed keeps my swamp cooler below 68 in my garage even in 100 heat.

erikhild59 said:

Where you at tasty? Laska?

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Idaho.

Nice.

This heat wave is killing me! It made it all the way up to 73 degrees today at my house! I don't even have an air conditioner!

I know my first ever recipe (Rye?? Rye Not! Blond Ale) was fermented during a week where my A/C died..and being away for the weekend my swamp cooler really did not do the job, I can only guess it fermented in the 80s somewhere..and the beer tastes like a shoe..I plugged through one case, and am sitting on the second for a while, to see if the off flavors fade, or until such time as I a desperate enough to drink it...
The plus side is a friends wife made him get rid of his wine chiller that had been taking up garage space..that coupled with a temp controller, and swamp coolers are now a thing of the past.

I had an IPA hit 78 degrees the other week in San Diego...it taste excellent though, the yeast was supposed to be kept at 72 or below (well above 60 though).....my friend that brews more than I do and follows all the rules and listens to all the podcasts couldn't believe it still tasted that good. Sometimes, you break the rules and get away with it. Sometimes you don't. What kind of yeast was that meant to be at 60-70? Sounds like an british ale yeast but i'm not familiar with that particular liquid yeast in your recipe...I use WL Cali Ale or Cali v in the summer because it seems tolerant of temp swings.

enricocoron said:

What kind of yeast was that meant to be at 60-70?

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Denny's Favorite 50 from Wyeast. Looking forward to this out too b/c I've heard good reviews of it. I've finally got 'er stabilized to mid 60s with the frozen gallon jugs (thanks guys!). The airlock is still chugging along rapidly. Man this thing is a beast...

One more thing to add - I usually use Safe ale S-05 yeast because it goes up to 75 degrees without any off flavors. Sometimes we need that extra breathing room when brewing during Summer in the Southern states.