Fermentation temperature too high?

Now that we are in the hot month of July, the basement is about as warm as it gets. Wondering if it's too warm. We brewed on Tuesday (7/3), and this morning (7/5) the ambient temp in the basement is 72. The thermometer on the bucket says 77 degrees. Is this an issue? My understanding is that 68-72 is the target temp...but is that ambient room temp, or temp of the beer? I'm not sure there is a cooler place to put the bucket, so we might just have to deal with it. Do we need to do something to bring the temp of the bucket/beer down? Pic below shows very active fermentation, but I'm worried this higher temp might produce some off flavors. Thoughts?

Google Swamp Cooler.

what kind of beer is it? the higher temps will produce off-flavors, which can be moderated by extended aging. you generally don't want to be fermenting in the 70s. you could look into the belgian styles, which ferment hotter

77 degrees is too warm.

Swamp Cooler - A large bucket or storage container filled with 6-8 inches of water. Set your fermenter in there and rotate frozen bottles of water to control your temperature. I don't find it too hard to keep the temperature of the wort in the low to mid sixties.

Added: Your vigorous fermentation could be a result of the higher temperatures. Rig a blow off tube on that fermenter ASAP, or you might be washing krausen off the ceiling soon!

Too hot. I try and get my fermenter down to about 62 or so. Yeast usually do fine at 60 ambient, as they tend to create their own heat while they work. Ideally you would keep the temp low and slowly raise it as the yeast slow down their metabolism.

progmac said:

what kind of beer is it? the higher temps will produce off-flavors, which can be moderated by extended aging. you generally don't want to be fermenting in the 70s. you could look into the belgian styles, which ferment hotter

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It's an IPA. My buddy doesn't like Belgians, so that's not an option. When you say extended aging, you mean in the bottle, right?

kh54s10 said:

77 degrees is too warm.

Swamp Cooler - A large bucket or storage container filled with 6-8 inches of water. Set your fermenter in there and rotate frozen bottles of water to control your temperature. I don't find it too hard to keep the temperature of the wort in the low to mid sixties.

Added: Your vigorous fermentation could be a result of the higher temperatures. Rig a blow off tube on that fermenter ASAP, or you might be washing krausen off the ceiling soon!

Click to expand...

If we get it in a swamp cooler and bring the temp down we shouldn't need the blow off tube, right? I'd rather get the temp right vs. rigging something new to control a possible blow off. But if you think both are needed, I'd also rather not screw up the beer!

Wigs said:

It's an IPA. My buddy doesn't like Belgians, so that's not an option. When you say extended aging, you mean in the bottle, right?

Click to expand...

a bottle would be the typical place. you could age in a secondary if you want to

Deployed a swamp cooler, and the temp is dropping...now at 73 degrees. The frothy bubbling through the cap has subsided. Hoping to get the bucket temp down to 65ish...would that be good?

65ish is ideal IMO. I fermented my first batch too hot and it took a few months in bottles before it started to taste good. Since you caught it early on, I would suggest leaving it in the fermentor 3-4 weeks before bottling and then try one after it has been in the bottle 3 weeks and decide if it needs more aging.

Just keep a brewing. It will be fine. Ideally you want to lower those temps, but what can you do. put it in the swamp cooler, and forget about it. Even if it tastes funny at first, by the second or third pint you will love it. ;-)

To those who replied to the OP about too high a temp, how do you check it?

I need to brew a batch of California Common and the book says to ferment at 62 degrees.

I'll use the "swamp cooler" approach but what's the best way to check it during the fermentation process?

I can keep a thermometer floating in the wort, suspended by a string to the stopper, or is the thermometer strip on the side of the carboy enough?

-Thanks,

I'm in the middle of a re-read of Chris White's (of White Labs) Yeast book, and this post triggered a memory of one of the sections I read last night. They ran an experiment fermenting with WLP001, the standard CA Ale yeast, at 68 and 75. There were minimal increases in fusel alcohols at the higher temps, but the big-big difference was the creation of acetaldehyde.

I don't recall the precise numbers, but with a perception threshold of approximaetly 10 ppm, and the batch fermented at 68 only generated 7 ppm acetaldehyde. The batch that fermented at 75 had 150ppm which is a significant increase. If you're getting unwanted apple flavor/aroma in your beer, lower the temp!

Wigs said:

If we get it in a swamp cooler and bring the temp down we shouldn't need the blow off tube, right? I'd rather get the temp right vs. rigging something new to control a possible blow off. But if you think both are needed, I'd also rather not screw up the beer!

Click to expand...

You literally remove the air lock and stick a section of tubing that will fit the bung of your carboy. You run the end of the tubing into a container filled with Starsan and water. It will cost you a couple bucks at Home Depot. How difficult is that for you manage?

Your beer is already probably "screwed up" from the high fermentation temperatures. Perhaps you got lucky and dropped the temperatures quickly enough to eliminate the production of off-flavors; highly hopped styles like IPAs will generally cover up poor brewing/fermentation techniques, but if you want to expand into lighter styles - kolsches, wheats, lagers(!!!), etc. you need to learn to get a handle on your fermentation temperatures otherwise you're ultimately not producing a product that is consistent and of a high quality.

Nothing sucks more than spending $30-$40's on a recipe and devoting hours of time on the brewing process only to have to dump it weeks later because fermentation temperatures got too hot.