yeast added same time as sugar!

hi everybody new to home brew and just made first brew today as well as first mistake. when adding boiling water to wart mixture i have added sugar and then my yeast !!! then topped up with water. should i bin my brew or will it be ok?
many thanks darren

IMHO, you have added food for the yeast that you have to run, not walk, out and buy.
The yeast should be added below 80F. (Maybe 90)

A pack of good dry yeast isn't too pricey.

thanks for your reply was unable to get more yeast (sunday) just as a matter of intrest i warmed yeast in cup of warm water before i added to wart would that make any diffrence? i am also running heater in bucket will 24 hours later adding yeast be to late ? if not what will beer taste like with 2 x yeast in it?
regards Darren

The second yeast will eat the dead yeast. Even if both yeasts survive, it will be like a large starter, quicker fermentation.
No difference in taste..

The yeast rehydrated in warm water would die in hot wort. If the temp
was over 90F after adding yeast, it is probably toast.
(This is the type of emergency that causes most brewers to keep
an extra packet of dry yeast in the freezer)

BUT,,. Unless your sanitaion is excellent, I would not run a heater in wort
that has no viable yeast in it. I would keep it sealed in the fermentor and find room in the fridge or in a bucket, covered, with ice around it and prevent
wild stuff from growing.

What kind of yeast are you using?
Unless your fermentation area is less than 68F, I would not bother with the heater.




BTW..It WILL be BeeR!!!!

hi mud thanks again for your reply nice to know help not far away! yeast used not known just checked bucket 18 hours later still looks black but looks as though there is a little formenting starting how much should be exspected at this stage not known? going to get some yeast this a/m if you think i need to. darren

At this point, IMHO, the yeast is very suspect. I would buy a pack of Nottingham
Dry yeast and sprinkle it on top of your beer. Close and seal the lid. It should show good activity within 12 hours or so.

Agian, IMHO, ferment at 68F or so. Nottingham will do a good job at that temp.

I suspect you killed most, but not all, of the yeast pitching hot. Yeast have a doubling time of about 2 hours, so if there was some activity at 18 hours, it should be working well this morning. If not, re-pitch.

hi again got home monday pm checked how brew doing seemed to be frothing a bit added yeast checked tonight (tuesday pm) with hydrometor reading 1030. is this a thumbs up or down.

darren h said:

hi again got home monday pm checked how brew doing seemed to be frothing a bit added yeast checked tonight (tuesday pm) with hydrometor reading 1030. is this a thumbs up or down.

Click to expand...

what was the hydrometer reading on sunday after you topped up to 5 gallons?

This is a "taste it and see" The beer should finish at a gravity of around 1.015 - add your priming sugar and bottle and that point.

Dry yeast should be rehydrated in fairly hot water - I can't recall but nottingham is something like 95 - 105F water. If your beer was hotter than this range then you probably killed your yeast. If the beer started fermenting on its own, and it sounds like it did, then either some yeast survived or something else (like wild yeast or lacto bacillus) got in there and started fermenting. If it has got an infection it will taste bad.. probaly sour... but don't worry, it's not poisonous. If it tastes ok at this point (like beer.. maybe mildly sweet if you haven't hit your final gravity yet) then its fine.. relax and have a beer. My guess is it its fine.

For future reference though remember that the yeasties, like you, probably don't enjoy being pitched into piping hot liquid. Even if they do survive there is a potential for them to create off flavors such as fusel oils (solvent taste) or large quantities of esters (bananas or fruity tasting) - these are off tastes that are caused by higher than recommended fermentation temperatures.. remember that the yeast start fermenting soon after you pitch them, this is why the beer should be cooled to fermentation temp before you add the yeast. Also remember that you need to aerate the wort when you add the yeast (this is the only time you should aerate) and aerating the wort when its above 80F is a bad thing to do (think carboard off taste - stale beer).

Let me reiterate though, it's probably fine. Have a taste and let us know.

have a read at www.howtobrew.com it's a really great resource for beginners and experts alike. It'll go into a bit more depth about all the stuff I mentioned here.

Edit: and another thing, don't add sugar to beer unless it's for priming. It's generally frowned upon as sugar does nothing to help beer taste like beer and may create cidery off tastes. Forget what the instructions on the kit say about adding sugar, you should ONLY use malt extract as the source of your fermentables