Importance of yeast pitch temp?

I am worried that I pitched the yeast too soon into my wort. I pitched the yeast in when my wort was about 85-90F. Will it delay fermentation? Ruin the batch? How important is it to wait till the wort is down to 75F?

If anything, warm pitching speeds up fermentation. Bakers routinely proof yeast in 110F water so it takes off quickly.

The reason brewers pitch cool is that very active yeast at warm temperatures produce off flavors, which are not a concern for bakers. The agressive yeast flavors in bread are highly desireable, but bread only ferments for a few hours. Over 3 days, flavors start to turn funky.

You will likely be just fine. See if you can detect off flavors in the final beer. I bet you can't.

Franc103 said:

You will likely be just fine. See if you can detect off flavors in the final beer. I bet you can't.

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My money is on fusels and unexplained headaches.

It all depends on how quickly you got the temperature down to below 70 F. I'm assuming it is a standard American or English ale yeast, and not a Belgian.

I am brewing a english brown ale using Muntons premium gold yeast. After pitching the yeast I sealed the fermenter and placed it in storage. So it cooled down rather slowly through the night and is now at about 60F.