New and stupid!

Hey yo,

Glad to join this community. Some really knowledgeable people here with great advice.

Anyways, I attempted my first brew tonight. Thing were going ok, until I got too paranoid about mixing the wort and making sure the water was warm enough to dissolve when I was adding water to the mixture in the fermenter.

I am making an ale, and the temperature climbed quite high. I was almost at max capacity when I started to cool it down. My wort mixture was at 36 Celsius (96 Fahrenheit) when I added the yeast. I was torn between trying to wait for it to cool, but to leave the vulnerable wort sit I figured I should pitch and take my chances.

So let me have it, feel free to call me stupid! How much damage did I do adding the yeast t this higher than desired temp?

Sounds like you didn't let the wort cool down enough before adding to your top off water in the fermenter. You should have left the wort in the brew kettle to cool before adding that and the top off water to the fermenter.

And adding the yeast at that temp probably killed the yeast. The only way to find out would be to take an OG reading now and then take another in a couple of days. Once you know if the yeast is dead or not, you can then pitch some more.

If you do nothing else but wait, you will still have drinkable beer. If it's your first batch, you will likely be surprised that the beer is better than you thought. It may have a fusel alcohol taste, which it will taste like good beer with an off after taste. Drink this batch and learn what not to do next time.

For now, make sure to ferment in the mid to low 60's. If you can't put it in a colder location, take the whole fermenter and put it into another larger container of water. Add ice to the water bath outside of the fermenter, and try to get the temperature down to the mid to low 60's.

I've pitched hotter than planned before (even recently), but never that hot. I have a temperature controlled freezer, so it wasn't a huge issue. In your case, I would really do your best to keep it cool. Read up on temperature control and pitching temperatures. It'll pretty much tell you what to expect.

So, it would be worth it to let it complete fermentation, probably at a longer rate, rather than toss it and try it again?

Cool it down as fast as possible, the quicker you act the less likely you are to have excessive off-flavors. Let it condition for 4-5 weeks to help ease it out, but if a sample at 3 weeks doesn't show anything off you're good to go then.