messed up first batch

Hello all, first time posting and first time brewing and go figure i messed up my first batch (IPA) ... i think.

my situation is the thermometer i was using to check the temp of the wort as it was cooling was apparently off by 20 degrees F. so because of this I added the yeast to my wort thinking it was at 70 F when it was really 90 F (found this out after deciding to take another temp reading with a second clean thermometer after adding said yeast). So of course i was worried i had killed the yeast after discovering this (as i really dont know what temps yeast can survive in). But i decided to let it sit a few days in hopes that maybe i it would be okay, and its now been three days and i havent had any bubbling in the airlock as i was told i should have.

So Have i royaly screwed up my first attempt at making beer or should i give it a few more days to see what happens? any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

If you're positive you pitched at 90 degrees, then you'll have to repitch yeast, they're dead....Use the same yeast.

But I would wait a couple more days....Take a hydro reading on thursday and see if there's been any change. If there hasn't then Rehydrate and repitch...

Your beer will be fine, the dead yeast will act as yeast nutrient and get eaten along with the sugars.... Don't panic, your beer won't be ruined.....It really is hard to screw up beer.

3 days is a long time to wait for fermentation to start, although not out of the realm of possiblity, especially if you pitched liquid yeast (a White Labs vial or a Wyeast smack pack) and didn't make a starter. My first 2 brews took 3 days to start for this very reason, but turned out well in the end.

Air lock activity is a poor indicator of fermentation, especially if you are using a bucket fermenter. Can you see a ring of gunk (krausen) around the bucket/carboy just above the level of the beer? If yes, then you had/have fermentation. Its ok to open the bucket and look.

If you do have krausen, then I don't think you'll need to pitch new yeast. Just let it finish. If you don't have krausen, then as soon as you can go get yourself some SafAle US-05 dry yeast, rehydrate it in 100ml of 80º water for 30 minutes and pitch it into the wort. You should have fermentation activity within 12 hours. If your homebrew supply store doesn't have US-05, then get Nottingham dry yeast.

In the future, if you use liquid yeast then make a starter. If you use dry yeast (which I prefer, BTW) then rehydrate it before pitching.

Revvy said:

If you're positive you pitched at 90 degrees, then you'll have to repitch yeast, they're dead....

Click to expand...

Now that doesn't seem correct. When you rehydrate dry yeast you are supposed to do it in the 85-100 range, and that doesnt kill them.

The worst you'll have is higher esters from a warm fermantation. As others have said, if you're getting krausen, you're fermenting and have a bad seal somewhere on the fermenter.

At that pitching temp, they could have easily fermented the beer out in 36 hours. Check the gravity.

thanks for the responses guys. So i checked the gravity and to see if there was krausen and both were a no on fermentation. so i took the advice of repitching my yeast yesterday and this morning I had a little ring o'gunk and there was bubbling in the airlock (which im taking as a good thing). So im hoping this is all on track now, which is a huge relief as i thought i completely messed this one up.

Thanks alot for the advice, and so you know ive bought a nice, new and accurate thermometer so hopefully i dont make this mistake again.

Sounds like everything is good now. Please let us know how it turns out.

And welcome to HBT!

Good to hear it's back on track. I bet it'll be a good beer - just be sure that you don't drink it all before it's had a chance to mature properly.