Started Yeast too soon, what to do?

Hey guys,

I just finished a batch of Northern Brewer Irish Red. I started my dry yeast too early. It has been sitting for about an hour and a half now, and my wort is still at 90ish degrees. I'm out of ice so I can't ice bath it like I'd like to, so can I leave the yeast sit overnight and pitch it in the morning or should I just pitch it now? Thanks guys!


Jon

By starting it you mean you re-hydrated it? If you can sanitize a cover for it you should be good until tomorrow. Or else I would recommend going to a convenience store and getting a ten pound bag of ice to finish the job. provided you don't live in the middle of nowhere. I use the bathtub for cooling sometimes because it can hold so much water it helps keep it cool.

jjmil03 said:

Hey guys,

I just finished a batch of Northern Brewer Irish Red. I started my dry yeast too early. It has been sitting for about an hour and a half now, and my wort is still at 90ish degrees. I'm out of ice so I can't ice bath it like I'd like to, so can I leave the yeast sit overnight and pitch it in the morning or should I just pitch it now? Thanks guys!


Jon

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I assume you rehyrdrated and didnt do a starter correct? Either way just cover it up and put it in the fridge till your ready to pitch. the yeast will fall asleep in the colder temp and when your ready pitch they will wake up and start working.

Yes it was dry yeast, and I put in about 4oz of water per the directions. I added some sugar (like a pinch) so it had something to munch on, not sure if that will ruin anything or not...honestly I didn't even think of putting it back in the fridge.

If you can get the wort down to the mid to high 70's (cold water in the sink?) pitch the yeast. I've pitched at 80 and had no trouble, I've seen directions that called for dry yeast to be re-hydrated at 86-92 degrees, if you can re-hydrate at that temp, I'd assume you can pitch at that temp. What is the ideal temp for ferment listed at for this brew?

I pitched it at 85 degrees...hope it will work.

The packet said the same thing... 85-92, so I figure its only going to cool down more tonight, it should be OK

I had the same problem last Sunday night. Using a WC I could not get the temp below 90. I also had rehydrated my yeast and it sat for about 45 mins. I pitched the yeast and hoped for the best. No fermentation the next morning but when I got home from work it was happily fermenting. My brew was an Irish Red Ale from Midwestern.
Slainte

I think you'll be fine, but you will need to be able to get your ferment temp lined out, fermenting to warm is not a flavor enhancer, at least that is what I've found. also big temp swings aren't good either. I re-hydrate for 1 hour minimum, usually 2.

Yeah it will settle out around 75 or so in my closet and hold there, so just the next few hours it will be lowering in temp. Hopefully the taste won't be discernable....if so, I'll try it again and see how big a difference. This is only my second brew, so it would be cool to do that to just compare.

Put it in a swamp cooler. You can get temp down to 66/68.
Slainte

Sounds like you will be at the top end of optimum ferment temperature for an ale, if there is any way you can get the temp down a few degrees, you'll (IMO) have a better outcome. Search "swamp cooler" here.
I'm just shy of 1 year brewing, did my 13th extract +specialty grains kit on Sunday. my first few beers brewed too warm (August), had one I could not drink, poured 45 bottles down a gopher hole ( hate gophers!) Once I got my ferment temperatures in the indicated range, and controlled the swings, my quality has gone way up. I think next to sanitation, temperature control is critical to good brews.

jjmil03 said:

I added some sugar (like a pinch) so it had something to munch on

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Never add sugar when you are rehydrating. We rehydrate dry yeast because in the dry state their cell walls are too permeable. They can't control the flow of sugar in their little bodies and half of them die. A pinch isn't going to ruin your beer but it is better to hydrate in pure water and pitch while they are hungry.

relax, throw some of the wort into the hydrated yeast. I think you can cool a small amount enough to add to the hydrated yeast. It is like making a starter. The sugars in the small wort addition will keep the yeast going till you can get the rest of the wort to the proper temp. Heck, you will even end up with a bigger yeast starter. Win win for all.

bleme said:

Never add sugar when you are rehydrating. We rehydrate dry yeast because in the dry state their cell walls are too permeable. They can't control the flow of sugar in their little bodies and half of them die. A pinch isn't going to ruin your beer but it is better to hydrate in pure water and pitch while they are hungry.

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Spoken like a true yeast nerd. This fair poster is correct, as long as they meant "pure water" to mean tap water without sugar, rather than deionized (DI, DDI), reverse osmosis (RO), or distilled water (which are all no-nos).

In the future, avoid pitching too hot. Pitching temperature can have as dramatic an effect on the finished product as fermentation temperature. You only ever want to pitch below or at your ideal fermentation temperature.

In your case, it would have worked better to simply allow the yeast to hang out in their rehydration medium (tap water with moderate to high hardness) until the wort was at an appropriate temperature. The only thing you LOSE by doing this is the extra energy reserves (particularly glycogen and trehalose, if you care) that the yeast manufacturers have built in, but no significant cell damage or death should occur. That is why manufacturers suggest pitching within a half hour of complete rehydration. Bleme's post describes why they recommend rehydrating in water only.

This is, of course, not an idea situation- you did the best you could with the info you had. Just something to improve upon for the next time- I'm positive this beer will turn out great.



(***Sources: couldn't find the actual article, but its text is reprinted in this post: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/starter-dry-yeast-244035/)

Just an update, I came home today and she is bubbling a storm. Thanks guys!