Fermentation +10 (or more) degrees - whoa

I brewed up a batch of AHS American Pale Ale (my first partial mash from their 20th anniversary $20 sale) on Monday night. Everything went well, pitched Nottingham around 70-degrees as I have been doing with my other brews and stashed the carboy in my hallway coat closet where the ambient temp stays around 68 degrees +/- up to 2 degrees. I know that fermentation creates heat and I've seen the temperature get up to the low to mid 70's during the most vigorous/active time, but I was surprised and concerned to come home yesterday to find the most vigorous fermentation I've seen yet, and the temperature reading 80 degrees in the carboy (ambient 69 degrees). There was a massive amount of krausen and the airlock was bubbling like crazy.

I checked it this morning and almost all the krausen had fallen, but there was still a significant amount of churning and the airlock is still bubbling, though significantly less. Temperature was reading around 78 degrees.

Does 80 degrees in the carboy sound bad for an APA with Nottingham during hard/active fermentation?

Depends on your standards, if you just want beer to drink then nope it'll still be beer. If you want something that'll knock the socks off judges at competition then i'd probably pass on this one, drinking it of course while figuring out a better more reliable fermentation plan.

For me fermentation was the last thing I paid attention to when I first started brewing since it was the part I was least involved with. But after brewing more and learning whatever I could I soon found out that fermentation was probably the most important step during the process. I went out found a fridge on craigslist for about 25 bucks and temp controller from china for about 20 and about 20 more dollars in misc things and for about 65 dollars had me a fermentation chamber.

Since then my beer has been unbelievable!

Your beer will probably end up with More of a fruity profile than intended due to the creation of esters and fusel alcohols at higher fermentation temps.

I agree with the above poster, fermentation temp control is one of the most important aspects of brewing great beer.

I agree with Marnel, the best investment that I made was a small freezer and thermostat that allows me to control the fermentation temperatures. I havent entered competitions or anything like that, but I have noticed a huge improvement.

I think that I spent about 75 on a used freezer from craigslist and then the controller that I have was from Midwest and I spent about 60 Bucks on that. Overall worth every penny.

this is one of the reasons i need to scrounge and just search in the couch cushions for every penny i can so i can buy a damn thermostat.

ive been pretty lucky in temps for fermentation but i really think that there needs to be more emphasis to nubs on fermentation temps being a key part of brewing

said it before and ill say it again... notty is a beast!! :rockin:

yea agreed, a bit warm for the ferm... but should be good anyway!!

I'm not aiming for competition quality beer here, but I do want to drink it and not hate it. Though I only have a handful of brews under my belt, I've been able to maintain consistent temperatures within the acceptable range of the yeast thus far without a ferm chamber in using a first-floor closet where the temp remains fairly constant. As the weather starts to warm I was just going to move fermentation to my basement (actually started with one there last night). I already invested in a keezer build this year with 3 kegs on tap - don't have a lot of play money left over for a fridge for fermenting, craigslist-based or not, but I'll keep my eye out.

I would expect significant off flavors using Nottingham at 80F. Hopefully that doesn't happen.

I don't have the space for another freezer/refrigerator for a fermentation chamber. My brewing friends laugh at me but when I brew in the summer when the ambient house temperature is 75 I place my carboy by an air conditioner vent and cover both with a card board box. It's funny looking but it works.