Did I pitch too hot?

[lpstudio18]

I just made my second batch last night. I used a Wyeast London Ale Yeast smack pack and had some trouble getting it cooled quickly because I thought I had more ice than I did (duh). Anyway, after adding top off water and aerating it was just over 80F, so I let it sit for maybe a half hour in the closed fermenter, but I got worried about infection and decided to pitch when it was about 78-79F. The OG was 1.044 so I didn't use a starter, and today there is mild activity from the airlock (i know, not a sign of fermentation). Will I be ok?

 

[eltorrente]

Yup, you'll be fine.

I've done this several times, since we used to be impatient and just wanted to set the carboy aside and be done with it. Anyway, you'll get a bit of extra aromas/tastes coming up from the yeast, but nothing that's going to kill the beer.

Your beer won't be as "refined" or "clean" tasting, but it'll be fine beer nonetheless. Basically, the imparted flavors and aromas aren't enough to turn it from "good" beer to "bad" beer. It'll just be a bit different, that's all - but not quite as drastic as you think.

 

[Sardoman]

You'll be fine. It's not the best for yeast health to pitch at high temps but as long as you see krausen forming withing a day from pitching you're in good shape.

If this happens again, just wait until the next day to pitch. If you are careful about your sanitation there's no harm in waiting a little while. The temperature at the beginning of the fermentation will more heavily influence the ester & phenol levels produced by your yeast strain than will the temps. at the end of fermentation, so pitch at the right temp. in order to get the flavor profile that you desire from the strain you have chosen.

 

[lumpher]

it's all good, as long as you lower the temp for it to ferment in quickly

 

[Golddiggie]

I would get the temperature down into it's comfort range (60-72F) ASAP and for the duration... IF you get it into the correct range for the strain early enough, you'll be fine. If you just let it go as it wishes, who knows what you'll get. It could be great, but it might not be even close to what you wanted. IMO, when you're paying that much for yeast, better to pitch it in the correct temp range.

 

[rexbanner]

I pretty much always pitch at 70-75. With pure O2 and good pitching rates, I get a lag time of 4-5 hours, but in that time the beer cools down to the appropriate temp in the ferm chamber. I've never gotten any off flavors whatsoever.

Some people will tell you that the beer will never cool down and the action of fermentation will keep your beer at a high temperature. While I can't speak for everyone, I have thermowells and a Johnson control and even on Belgians that fermented like a pot about to overboil, the temperature of the beer was never more than 2-3 degrees more than the ambient air temperature inside the chamber, if even that. My chamber is small, however, so that might have something to do with it.

TLR If you put it somewhere cooler, you're fine.

 

[eastoak]

so I let it sit for maybe a half hour in the closed fermenter, but I got worried about infection

you would have been fine had you let it cool for a few more hours. many people post here worried about the same thing, a frantic rush to pitch the yeast before infection sets in. infections are not magic, they don't happen spontaneously just because yeast has not been pitched. if you have practiced good sanitation and you have your wort in a closed vessel of some sort there is no reason you should not be calmly going about the business of getting the last few critical steps right.

 

[dcp27]

Basically, the imparted flavors and aromas aren't enough to turn it from "good" beer to "bad" beer.

sorry to play devil's advocate, but i strongly disagree. fermenting outside of a yeast temperature range is one of the easiest ways to turn a good beer bad. if you don't agree, try using notty >70F. controlling fermentation temps is one of the key things in creating great beers. a few degrees off is ok, but 10+ like this is will indeed be a drastic flavor difference.

I would cool this down asap to reduce the chance of fusel production.

 

[lpstudio18]

Immediately after pitching I put the fermenter in the cool basement and within a couple hours the temp has held to a consistent 69F for the last two days. I only pitched under these conditions because I had read various places that pitching is OK as long as you are below 80F. I know it wasn't ideal, but it seems to be the major consensus that I didn't do too much harm. Strong activity in the fermenter began at about the 24 hour mark.

 

[LVBen]

78-79 with a low gravity beer is probably going to be OK... but you are getting close to disaster...

Temperature is soooooo important. Do whatever you can to make sure you get the correct pitching temperatures in the future.

 

[Maxkling]

sorry to play devil's advocate, but i strongly disagree. fermenting outside of a yeast temperature range is one of the easiest ways to turn a good beer bad. if you don't agree, try using notty >70F. controlling fermentation temps is one of the key things in creating great beers. a few degrees off is ok, but 10+ like this is will indeed be a drastic flavor difference.

I would cool this down asap to reduce the chance of fusel production.

Agreed 100%. The first 2 batches I did not have any temperature control and we pretty horrid. It depends on the style, but it can make a good beer bad.

 

[dcp27]

Immediately after pitching I put the fermenter in the cool basement and within a couple hours the temp has held to a consistent 69F for the last two days. I only pitched under these conditions because I had read various places that pitching is OK as long as you are below 80F. I know it wasn't ideal, but it seems to be the major consensus that I didn't do too much harm. Strong activity in the fermenter began at about the 24 hour mark.

good work getting it down fairly quickly afterwards. while technically pitching <80F is ok, its recommened to always pitch lower and raise vs the other way around. dropping the temp on active yeast can lead to stalled fermentations.

 

[lpstudio18]

Thanks for the advice everyone...just going to let it do it's thing and hope for the best now!

 

[unionrdr]

You can also give it 3-5 days after a stable FG is reached to clean up & settle out more. Then 4 weeks in the bottles will clean it up some more. Maybe not great,but it can still turn out pretty good.