Is 74 degrees too hot?

I have a wheat ale fermenting in a glass carboy. I just checked the temp and it is 74F. Is this too hot and what problems could it cause?

are you cooling it at all? yeast build heat as they work so your wort will always be warmer than room temp. I ferment my ale at 65. If you are not cooling it, then set the carboy in a tub of water and wrap a towel around it with the ends of the towel in the water. you can pour water over the towel from time to time ands place a fan blowing on it. since you are in georgia and I'm sure its humid there, this evaporative trick may not work so well but it beats nothing. as for problems, I have read that warm fermentations could produce some off flavors. hopefully someone with more experience than me can elaborate on this.

Liquid yeast at that temp will give off flavors, dry yeast like s-05 and notty I dont think will give you any in my exp. However it would be better to get that temp down anyways. Try searching "frozen Water bottle" method.

RICLARK said:

Liquid yeast at that temp will give off flavors, dry yeast like s-05 and notty I dont think will give you any in my exp. However it would be better to get that temp down anyways. Try searching "frozen Water bottle" method.

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Well that's relief to me. I used a nottingham dry yeast on my last beer and it was fermenting at around 76-78 for a while, until I started the ice water bottle method. It should be fine now. Hopefully I caught it in time.

I cooled the wort down to around 60 before pitching, it took a while for it to start up. I used a dry yeast and it should be almost finished fermenting. I think I'll just let it ride now, (it's already been 6 days.) I'll find a cooler place next time. Thanks.

I use one of these that holds 2 fermenters, and a few inches of water.



I have an aquarium thermometer on the side of it to check the temp of the water. I cover each of the carboys/buckets with a t-short to wick up the water. Adding a fan to blow air on them will cool them further.

I filled a bunch of 2 liter soda bottles and some small water bottles with water and froze them...I change them out every couple days. I can get the ambient temp of the thermometers on the bucket down to the low 60's which means that the heat of fermentation is only a few degrees higher.

I've never used dry yeast before but in my experience at that temp. your wheat beer could really start to develop some extreme esters and phenols. The banana and clove that wheat beer yeasts give off will be accentuated and could be over the top.

I brewed for years without any temp. control at all and the main problem waas that I had zero consistency with my brews. One time a recipe would turn out great and the next it would be mediocre, due to fermentation temp. It is very hit and miss.

Generally, you don't really want your ales to ferment above about 70, except for certain styles where you want to ramp up the temp. as the fermentation carries along. In the future try to get some form of cooling going especially in the summer months, it will help your results tremendously. As for this beer, it may turn out just fine at the worst it may be a bit fruity.

talkingmonkey said:

I have a wheat ale fermenting in a glass carboy. I just checked the temp and it is 74F. Is this too hot and what problems could it cause?

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In my experience, wheats fermenting above 70 will produce a lot of esters which will give your batches a banana flavor. Not that's a bad thing but if you're trying to avoid any kind of fruity flavor, try and ferment below 70. Cool water bath with some wet towels or t-shirts over the carboy will do it.

I was going for a Sam Summer clone, so this could get interesting. Lemony-Banana beer anyone? Lemons are served with Hefes sometimes, so maybe it won't be too bad. My first batch, (Bock w/ ale yeast), was pitched hot and fermented at the same temps, (74). I tried one last night and was extremely pleased. Maybe I'll get lucky this time, I'm bottling soon. Next time I'll be more temperature conscious.

HoosierDaddy said:

In my experience, wheats fermenting above 70 will produce a lot of esters which will give your batches a banana flavor. Not that's a bad thing but if you're trying to avoid any kind of fruity flavor, try and ferment below 70.

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Agreed.

Working cooler with weizen yeasts (particularly european onese) will typically give clove flavors. My last wheat I fermented at 65F (60F ambient, 65F in the bucket) and has a pronounced clove note. Also took about 10 days of bucket time to finish.

Before that I did a [weizen] at 70F ambient, 75F bucket and it was pronounced banana.

If I had to choose between clove and banana, I'd pick banana but that's just me. I think my next batch will ferment at 65F ambient, 70F bucket and see if
it strikes a happy medium.

I am so stressing. For some reason I got it in my head that I could come home and bottle today??? I brewed last Tues., pitched cold, didn't get any bubbling for about 16 hours. I don't know what I was thinking. (Big party on 7/4, wanted to show off.) I have the stick on thermometer on the side of the carboy,(it reads 74ish). Is it reading ambient or bucket reading. My home ac thermo reads 74. Does that mean my beer could be at 78? I used an American Ale yeast, (High range is 72). Have I or am I killing my yeast? My new hydro reading looks right. OG 1.054, CG 1.015(w/ temp adjustment). I thought hobbies were relaxing!

Dude...I hate to break it to you but your beer won't be ready for july 4th....you need 3 weeks minimum at 70 degrees to bottle condition and carb...and you don't want to serve green beer to people for the first time..they will either think you suck as a brewer or more likely homebrew sucks and they should stick to Bud....do a search for some of the recent can I speed up carbonation threads and you'll see the same answer from everyone....

This hobby is relaxing if you let it be...

I've already walked away. I'm gonna wait and bottle this weekend. Besides, I've got my 1st brew, a bock, that should be in primetime by the 4th. I'm calm now, just a minor freak out.

Relax, Don't Worry, Have a HomeBrew