This is my second ipa. My first batch I put my yeast in when the wort was too hot killed it. I wanna be more carful about temp on this guy. It's been about a day now and is at 78 degrees it went up since yesterday. I put the yeast in at 74 degrees. Am I ok? Shall I cool it down?
Temp on fermentation
- Thread starter wfrazie
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WoodlandBrew
Well-Known Member
Ideally, yes you want to cool it down, but it is okay where it is. If you can, you'll want to get that temperature into the mid sixties as soon as possible. If the yeast is hot during the early stages of fermentation you will likely have fusel alcohols and other off flavors.
See the swamp cooler here:
http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2012/09/swamp-cooler.html
When you pitch the yeast, you want to minimize the amount of time that the wort is without yeast to lower the chance of infection, but you also don't want to pitch when it is too hot. It's a slippery slope. If you cover the wort after the boil is done, and don't open it until you dump it into the fermenter and pitch the yeast, then you can stretch the time line to about 24 hours. Even longer if you can get the air out of the container. Search for information on the no-chill method.
See the swamp cooler here:
http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2012/09/swamp-cooler.html
When you pitch the yeast, you want to minimize the amount of time that the wort is without yeast to lower the chance of infection, but you also don't want to pitch when it is too hot. It's a slippery slope. If you cover the wort after the boil is done, and don't open it until you dump it into the fermenter and pitch the yeast, then you can stretch the time line to about 24 hours. Even longer if you can get the air out of the container. Search for information on the no-chill method.
jerrodm
Well-Known Member
Not sure--did you already pitch your yeast or not? If you pitched at 74F you should be fine as far as not killing the yeast. However, depending on the strain you used, you may still want to cool it down, since many yeasts ferment best in the mid-to-high 60's. If you ferment at a higher temp than the yeasts prefer, they'll get stressed and produce off-flavors in the beer. It probably won't ruin it, but you can get a cleaner, better tasting beer by keeping your temps lower. Check on the yeast maker's website, they post optimal temp ranges for all of their individual yeast strains.
Cheers.
Cheers.
