Waiting 5 hours to add yeast?

Hi I am in the process of brewing a winter ale and just started my boil 23 min ago. I just had a quick question about pitching temperature as I am trying to get better by having more control over my temperature. My chill wont go much lower than 73ish and i wanted to know if I can put my chilled wort in the carboy then into my fridge at 65 degrees for 6 hours while I am at work then pitch the yeast when i get home? To me it sounds reasonable? Will i get any off flavors?

You should be fine doing that... I've done it many times before and often pitch the day after brewing either because it is late or I need to let my fridge bring the wort to the pitching temp I want. Just make sure your fermenter is sanitized well and you follow good transfer practices and you should have no problem.

i personally wouldn't do it, but as long as everything is sanitized and sealed then it should be ok. as far as off flavors this in theory will prevent them.

Yeah lots of people are starting to use the "no chill" method where they just cap their ferm container and pitch the next day. I may have enough patience to let a bucket sit while fermenting, but I still couldn't do that unless I ran out of time, or spilled the yeast or something stupid like that.

I'll set lagers overnight in my cooler in order to bring them down to pitching temp with no ill effects. I do chill it down to 60 before placing it in there but that's about as low as my chiller will take it. Anyway, you should be fine as long as you are sanitary.

It will chill the same with the yeast in there. They aren't going to take off that fast.

if you have good sanitation habits there are no worries, I often take wort from brewday to use as a starter for 24-36 hours, then pitch.

wildwest450 said:

It will chill the same with the yeast in there. They aren't going to take off that fast.

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Yup that's exactly what I was going to say. Just pitch the yeast and then put it in the fridge. It doesn't matter if the wort is a bit warm during the aerobic phase while the yeast reproduce and eat the O2. Once the O2 is gone and they start munching the sugar (anaerobic phase) they wort will be at the right temp.

I often pitch the next morning and so far have not had infections.

I leave the wort in my boil kettle overnight as the temperature drops, and pitch in the morning.

Thanks for everyone responses I am going to pitch in about 4 Hours. The wort came out smelling great. First time with temperature control so hope this turns out well. Thanks again.