Yeast/temperature question

Hey all,

Afgter running my immersion chiller for about 20 minutes, the temp read "about" 75 degrees. I say "about" 'cos the thermometer was one of those ones that come with turkey fryers and go in 5 degree increments. SO kinsa hard to read with any amount of accuracy.

Anyway, I racked to primary and pitched the yeast, which has a temp range of 58-75 F as indicated on the packet. Only after I pitched and brought the bucket down to my basement did I look at the sticker thermometer on the side of my bucket and saw the temp reading of 79 F.

There seems to be some activity in the airlock already, not even 3 hours after, but I am left wondering of those extra 4 degrees F could/did hurt the yeast.

Any input?

Thanks!

Nick

Nope its fine. Rdwhahb

You didn't hurt the yeast- BUT there are flavors created at 79 degrees that you won't get at say, 65 degrees. Ideally, you'd pitch at the desired fermentation temperature or even a bit lower and allow the temperature to rise to the low-mid 60s, depending on yeast strain.

I ferment most of my ales at 62-64 degrees for the "cleanest" flavor.

LOL, thanks!

I've had 4 homebrews today and they didn't help at all with the "rdw" part, although they made me feel pretty darned good about everything else, lol!

Yooper said:

You didn't hurt the yeast- BUT there are flavors created at 79 degrees that you won't get at say, 65 degrees. Ideally, you'd pitch at the desired fermentation temperature or even a bit lower and allow the temperature to rise to the low-mid 60s, depending on yeast strain.

I ferment most of my ales at 62-64 degrees for the "cleanest" flavor.

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Wow...I've never been able to get my wort chiller (immersion) to get the wort chilled down to less than 70 d F!

CanadianQuaffer said:

Wow...I've never been able to get my wort chiller (immersion) to get the wort chilled down to less than 70 d F!

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Pre-chill the water going into the IC. I use a 1/6hp sump pump (~$60 from Lowes) in a tub … once the wort temp gets below 100 using muni water through the IC, I start circulating from the tub, and adding ice to increase the differential, which helps cooling immensely.

Ive got a quick question instead of adding a new thread I'll just ask here, after pitching yeast at optimal temps (i use us-05) and setting in my blackouts out office. Does it affect the yeast say if it fluctuates in temperature as long as it's within the optimum range? My house in this time of year coming up, the ambient room temps usually fluctuate about 6 degrees from the hottest time of day to the coldest part of night.

WortIfied said:

Ive got a quick question instead of adding a new thread I'll just ask here, after pitching yeast at optimal temps (i use us-05) and setting in my blackouts out office. Does it affect the yeast say if it fluctuates in temperature as long as it's within the optimum range? My house in this time of year coming up, the ambient room temps usually fluctuate about 6 degrees from the hottest time of day to the coldest part of night.

Click to expand...

Yes, it can. A good way to mitigate that is to insulate the fermenter in a tub of water- like a big cooler or other bin that can hold the fermenter in a water bath. It takes a LONG time for any temperature changes to affect the beer that way as water is a great insulator, and may stop temperature fluctuations.

CanadianQuaffer said:

Wow...I've never been able to get my wort chiller (immersion) to get the wort chilled down to less than 70 d F!

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Your tap water must be pretty warm, then. You can always chill the wort to the temperature of the tap water, but if your tap water is 70 degrees you may have to resort to an ice bath or a pre-chiller as mentioned in an earlier post.

Yooper said:

Your tap water must be pretty warm, then. You can always chill the wort to the temperature of the tap water, but if your tap water is 70 degrees you may have to resort to an ice bath or a pre-chiller as mentioned in an earlier post.

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No, my tap water is pretty cold, actually, we're fed from a well. But it gets to a point where the temperature drop crawls to a snails pace. It goes from 200F to 100F in about 5-10 minutes then takes forever (well, about 15 minutes, actually, lol) to get from 100 to 75-80, so I usualy just pitch when the guage reads 75.