Pitched yeast possibly at too warm of temp.

I am just throwing rookie questions at you guys today, thanks for the awesome answers! Anyways... I ran out of ice when trying to cool my wort down to 100 degrees (I used a whole bucket in my sink). I proceeded to try and just use a cold water bath by replacing the water with more cold water and so on. It didn't seem like it was going to go under 115-120 degrees, so me being the rookie I am figured if I added the wort to my carboy, that had 2 gallons of cold water, would cool it down faster than my water bath. I topped it off with more cold water to bring it to 5 gallons, but I'm still worried it may have been too warm when I later pitched the yeast. I read and most people said to not worry unless it was 100 or more... Is that true? And what are the side affects of adding the yeast between 85-95? I'm sure my beer isn't going to need to be drained but what could my mistake possibly cause? Learning process, either way I'm excited.

No worries. As long as you weren't over 100, it should be okay. You may get some off-flavors that could have been avoided by pitching at a lower temp, but your beer is by no means ruined. I've pitched into wort in the 80s plenty of times before I knew better, and the beer has always been fine.

+1 you should be fine in the 80's - the yeast may be happier lower, but you're not going to ruin the beer.

High temperatures cause production of off flavors, but if you can bring temps down a bit before fermentation really gets going you'll minimize that. I've pitched in the upper 80's before and noticed no ill effects in the finished beer. If you pitched WAY too hot you could shock or kill the yeast, getting a poor fermentation.

For future reference, if you're doing the ice bath method it is best to use just cold water to start and add the ice when you get down to say 100 or so.

Yeast should be ok if it's under 100. I'd grab another packet for insurance just in case, but check it an a few days to make sure it's fermenting.

Depending on how cold the water was in your fermenter I think you should be fine it was prob in the 80-85 range. I routinely do the same thing and with 3 gallons of refrigerated water i need to get my 2 gallons of wort to about 120 or so. after I add the wort to the fermenter I come out at 75 almost every time. You may get some esters depending on the yeast but not too much as the temp will drop to your fermenting temp in a few hours

Maddoghoek said:

For future reference, if you're doing the ice bath method it is best to use just cold water to start and add the ice when you get down to say 100 or so.

Yeast should be ok if it's under 100. I'd grab another packet for insurance just in case, but check it an a few days to make sure it's fermenting.

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Yeah I thought about that when my ice melted. It's been an hour and a half since I put the beer in and the temp sticker is reading 75 finally so I am less worried. Thanks again everyone!

temperature control makes a dramatic difference in the finished product. in the future, don't pitch until you are within a couple degrees of your desired fermentation temperature. for this one, leave it on the cake a little longer.

The other risk at the temps you were discussing is hot side aeration. I am assuming you aerate your wort before pitching the yeast. Aerating above 80F risks hot side aeration which would cause off flavors, but temps in the 80s won't kill your yeast

I thought after much debate here and elsewhere (I don't want to dredge it up again) the bad effects of Hot side aeration was basically debunked

kanta said:

The other risk at the temps you were discussing is hot side aeration. I am assuming you aerate your wort before pitching the yeast. Aerating above 80F risks hot side aeration which would cause off flavors, but temps in the 80s won't kill your yeast

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There are a lot of threads on site regarding hot side aeration. The consensus seems to be that hot side aeration is old information/myth.

IMO it is nothing to worry about.

Having your temperatures in the 70s is good. I always try to keep my fermentations at the low end of the published range.

What are you brewing and what type of yeast did you use? Depending on your style of beer you may create desirable flavors? Estery phenols for a belgian or german hefe. Also keep in mind if your using the stick on fermatemp thermometers the temp in middle of the bucket will be 5-10 degrees hotter depending.

I'm making an American wheat and I used dry yeast (I can tell you the exact type later if needed) but I used a swamp cooler method to get the temp down a little more and now I am having a decent amount of bubbles in the air lock.