Am I going to have an issue here?

Did my first brew last night
Sierra Madre (NB kit w/ specialty grains)
Everything went perfectly as far as I can tell, although I did pitch my yeast @ 70deg F.
wyeast 1056

It looks like I'm fermenting at ~74deg.
My wife is 36weeks pregnant, so turning the house AC down to 60 is not an option for the sake of life preservation. The range for this yeast is capped at 72deg -- how bad is this going to turn out?

Also, a related question - Lets say I do get the temps down : Is this like an all or nothing type situation where once it gets beyond optimal temperature, it screws with the flavor, or will adjusting the temp help negate the temperature being too high? Also, is there a negative impact if I'm able to leverage my spare fridge in the shop to get it down to mid 60's? (in other words, will moving the ferm temp around cause more problems than good?)

Or am I just worrying too much here?

Set up a swamp cooler, put a damp towel around the fermenter and aim a fan at it. Should be able to drop that temperature to where you want it.

As the mantra goes, RDWHAHB.

Oh yeah, congrats on the kid.

temp of the wort during active fermentation can be 5-10deg higher than the ambient temp

i use a rubbermade style bin filled with water that i place my buckets in during fermentation - i can keep the temp in the 60's by switching out frozen water bottles during the day - if you had a spare bathtub you could do the same without having to buy the bin

Your wife is 36 weeks pregnant, and she wants it to be warmer than 62 degrees? Weird.

The effect of the warmer fermentation temperature will be a fruitier, maltier, less dry result. Very high temps (closer to 80) will make what people call a "banana bomb"... referring to the taste of the byproducts the yeast create at the extreme high end of their temperature range.

look familiar? :

marcycaulkins said:

Your wife is 36 weeks pregnant, and she wants it to be warmer than 62 degrees? Weird.

Click to expand...

Lol +1

If you want to move it to the fridge there wouldn't be any problem with that, assuming you've got a temp controller to moderate the temps. I suppose you could do it manually by turning on the fridge until it hits the temp you want, then unplugging it, but that sounds like a PITA. Otherwise swamp coolers will work great. I found a $5 tub at Target that fit perfectly. Stick your fermenter in there and fill it halfway with water, the water helps to absorb some of the heat given off by the fermentation so the fermenting temps are almost room temp instead of higher. If it was warm, I'd freeze some water bottles and toss them in the water to drop the temps a little more.

If you're worried about any off-flavors developing, just leave the beer on the yeast for 3-4 weeks. Some of them will get cleaned up by the yeast if you give them enough time, and anytime I use the 1056 I like to leave it on the yeast for a good while to let the yeast drop out of solution.

I would just leave this batch how it is and not freak out about it, but make sure you have a swamp cooler for your next one. Most off flavors from fermentation temperatures come from the first couple of days of fermentation when the yeast is reproducing and working hard. After that the temperature isn't going to have as great of an effect. 74 isn't too too high out of the range, so my guess would be that you will end up with something drinkable, perhaps not exactly what expected, but still good. +1 on leaving it on yeast for 3-4 weeks.

I wouldn't bother sticking it in the fridge because you want to maintain a relatively constant temperature. If you have the means to throw together a swamp cooler right now than you might as well stick it in there, but if not just make sure you buy some sort of bin for next time.

Good suggestions I think, and thanks for the input.
The situation with my wife is she is either freezing or burning up.. so yeah..

terrapinj said:

temp of the wort during active fermentation can be 5-10deg higher than the ambient temp

i use a rubbermade style bin filled with water that i place my buckets in during fermentation - i can keep the temp in the 60's by switching out frozen water bottles during the day - if you had a spare bathtub you could do the same without having to buy the bin

Click to expand...

Here is a picture of a tub w/fermenter inside w/a 1/2 gal bottle of ice covered by a towel. Temp in the tub is 64, in the bucket it's 68. One 1/2 gal seems to last the whole day at this time of the year. It's outside as you can see in deep shade.

Update:
My bubbler stopped bubbling and I let curiosity get to me, so I took a sample to check my gravity, get a "sniff test" and a taste test.

Gravity right now is 1.010 on the dot.
It smells like beer, and darn close to the target (sierra nevada pale ale), color looks close, but decidedly cloudy, and the most important thing to me, the taste is very good!

Here i was worried about fermentation - it is coming along just as i hoped.

I plan to wait until wednesday or so to get another reading, but im thinking the primary fermentation is complete since im at the target gravity, i will probably let it ride another week for the yeast to clean up after itself, then bottle wednesday after next. I cannot wait to sample the final product, if its this good now!

Sounds like good news! The yeast will also fall out during the next week which well help with the cloudiness issue. Although, the last time I used 1056 it took a decent chunk of time for them to all finally fall out, so if you're concerned about the yeast sticking around you may want to check on it and possibly give it a little longer. If not, they'll just fall out in the bottle once you cool them down, so its not a huge deal.

Yup, a putting it in the fridge will help finish the clearning. Are you kegging or bottling?

For the record the worst time to have higher than desired temperatures is during the yeast growth phase and during the most agressive, initial fermentation (1st 2-4 days). That's where the most damage will occur (besides pitching too hot and killing yeast).

I will be bottling, 16oz bottles.

I see myself doing some tinkering in my shop with the spare fridge or a more rudimentary cooling system so I can move this stuff out of the house and into the "man space" for my next batch. I'm already thinking a stout will be next on my list, but I want to make sure I can keep a stable low temp in the Oklahoma heat (probably not without refrigeration.)