8 hours delay before pitching yeast...

So as I was about to use my wort chiller last night I found a hole. Something I can patch, but still unusable right now.

I ended up cooling it down to about 160 in my sink by packing my pot with all the ice in the fridge. At that point I decided I had no other choice but to dump it in my fermenter and seal it up.

It took about 8 hours to get down to a point where I could pitch the yeast. Will this affect anything?

Not an ideal situation...but it will be beer none the less! A delayed pitch can entrap DMS, give undesirable critters and bugs a chance to multiply, yield a poor cold break etc,.


I believe some brewers actually use a no-chill method whereby the wort is locked away in a jug w/out air and allow a prolonged chill.

Whatever you do...don't pitch into warm wort...waiting is better IMO!

Oh, and in the furure, chill first w/ just tap water to knock out some temp and then try the ice. A boiling kettle will make large quantities of ice disappear.