I pitched a little to warm.

So I made a pumpkin ale yesterday and as the title said I pitch at 74° (I know I'm supposed to pitch at fermenting temp.... but long story short that didn't happen) and I put it in my basement which is at about 65°. I'm using Wyeast 1450 Denny's and it said the maximum temp is 70° and the thermometer on the side of my fermenter says 70°. I'm aware that in middle of the carboy it can be as much as 10° higher then what it is on the out side. So now my question is is the banana flavor they only off flavor I'm going to get with this temp/yeast? I'm working on a swamp cooler now but it's already been fermenting for close to 15 hours already and I fear it'll be a pumpkin banana ale now. Thanks.

You should be fine as long as you get that swamp cooler together quickly. 70 isn't crazy high. And a lot of us intentionally start our ferments a little warm and then bring it down once fermentation gets going.

Oh, and if ambient temps stay at or below 65, you might not even need the swamp cooler.

Thanks Jon, I got it down to 66. So hopefully there isn't to much banana lol

I've pitched as high as about 80 with no bad results. Ive heard the yeast actually like it that way, as long as you get into the correct temp range within a few hours.

tgmartin000 said:

I've pitched as high as about 80 with no bad results. Ive heard the yeast actually like it that way, as long as you get into the correct temp range within a few hours.

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Me too. Aerate, pitch at 80, wrap a wet towel around it with a fan and drop it to fermenting temp. Takes off faster, I think. Never had a bad batch with this.

You definitely need it cool when it's fermenting hard, as it creates it's own heat. (Assuming you like a neutral yeast flavor)