Fermenting at 78 when air is 65?

I just brewed a new beer yesterday and it is fermenting at 78 F. This is a lot higher than I have ever seen. Especially when the room temp is 65. Is this normal?

No. How are you measuring the temp and what is the recipe/process?

Fermentation generates heat.

Some yeasts generate more than others.

You might want to look into a swamp cooler to help keep the temperature down.

Chocolate Stout
1.053 OG - used dry yeast, pitched when wort was 75F.
Just read about the yeast generating that much heat. Thank you for the help

If you pitched the yeast at 75 degrees, and fermentation started before the wort cooled, that would explain much of it. I have had fermenting beer be up to 10 degrees higher than ambient temperature, simply from the heat produced by fermentation.

I like to pitch at the low end of the yeast's optimal fermentation temperatures, for precisely that reason. It's really hard to cool down 5.5 gallons of fermenting beer once it gets going!