Primary Fermenter temp too high?

I'm heading into day 3 on a Brown ale (my first homebrew) and I want to know how worried I should be. My air temp is right at 70, it's the best my little window AC unit can do. It just happens that NY is in a bit of a heat wave at the moment. The sticky thermometer says I'm at 75-77 on the bucket. The beer fermented quite vigorously the first night, almost woke up to raining beer. I now use a blow off hose.

1.) Could that really be the gap between and air and my beer?
2.) Is this ok? Do I need to get a wet towel out or something?

Thanks!

You should be ok, but some kind of swamp cooler set up wouldn't hurt. Use the search function and swamp cooler, you'll see.

i know every one here will say you are fine. and you may be...BUT i have noticed the off flavors from fermenting at too high of a temp to be unpalatable in my opinion. FWIW

I live in the NC in an old uninsulated house. I set my fermenter on the kitchen counter in front of my window unit, set a couple frozen bottles around the fermenter, and drape a towel that I mist with a spray bottle 3 or 4 times a day. You have to deal with humidity in NY, so a basic swamp cooler method will not usually cut it. the Window AC unit actually drys the air making the swamp cooling method somewhat efficient in humid climates.

That is a bit too warm, but any damage is already done. You may end up with some fusel alcohols that at least will mellow with a little extra time in the bottle but could give you a "hot alcohol" flavor.
I am not sure if this would be much of an issue in a brown, but it made one of my hefe's unpalatable until 2+ months in the bottle.
Very simple solution, set your carboy or bucket in a tub or trashcan, or whatever. Cover with a wet t-shirt and keep a few inches of water in the tub. The shirt will wick up the water and cool the fermenter as it evaporates.

The initial few days of fermentation are critical when it comes to temps. You very well might end up with some flavors that will clash with what you were expecting. I like the wicking method. I also use a water bath with frozen ice-packs and/or ice. It becomes so simple when you do this and your beer will love you for it!

I use a "Mother of a Fermentation Chiller" : Wort-O-Matic: 38DD Mother of a Fermentation Chiller
Mine is without the beautiful wood paneling finish because I need to be able to pick it up and move it up / down stairs etc. by myself.
It holds two 6.5 gal. carboys, and for the ice I fill and freeze heavy duty plastic jars that once held malt extract. I actually found the fan / thermostat to be overkill - I accidentally stopped fermentation by making the chamber making it too cold. The jars are in a large tupperware tray (storage bin) to catch any condensation.
I don't believe it would be adequate for lagering, but for knocking off a few degrees it's great.

I'll get it into a swamp cooler after work tonight although it seems the damage may already be done. I see a "Son of Fermentation" cooler in my future....

The ideal temp my instructions said were 60-70F. Is this ambient air temp or wort temp?

I used these plans: Wort-O-Matic: 38DD Mother of a Fermentation Chiller
I left off the beautiful wood paneling because I need to move it up / down stairs when not in use. I leave the fan off because I accidentally stopped fermentation by making it too cold. I don't think it would be adequate for lagering however. I also keep the ice jugs in a tupperware bin that pulls out like a tray, so the condensation is contained.
(Oops! I just meant to edit, not post twice)

hlumbard said:

I'll get it into a swamp cooler after work tonight although it seems the damage may already be done. I see a "Son of Fermentation" cooler in my future....

The ideal temp my instructions said were 60-70F. Is this ambient air temp or wort temp?

Click to expand...

This is referring to wort temp as fermenting wort can be several degrees higher than ambient. I use a water bath with an inline chiller set to 65°F for a temp range like you mentioned. The t-shirt method will usually get you to somewhere in the high 60's without jumping through very many hoops at all.

Yep, tub of water and t-shirt over my primary. throw a frozen water bottle in there a couple of times a day which will drop temps even lower.
Lots of folks on here say to ferment at the low end of the yeast instructions which is typcially low to mid 60's. After fermentation, you can relax a bit on temp control.