Fermentation temperature too high

[aredling]

I made a simple pale ale for my first brew in around a year over the weekend.

I used Safale-05 yeast and pitched around 75-80 as it was extremely hot on Saturday and I wasn't able to get it any lower.

I left Saturday night and turned off the AC in my house, but left the carboy in the basement. I didn't really think that turning off the AC in the house for the day would raise the temperature down there too bad.

I got home yesterday to an extremely hot house, upstairs was around 85. I think the basement was around 82 maybe even 85? And this was at night so I have no idea how hot it got during the day.

I saw some very limited krausen and some bubbles in my blowoff bucket. This morning I checked on it again and it appears to have completely fallen off. Think I should just re-hydrate and pitch another packet onto this tonight?

I am sure this info is available if I scour the forum but it's monday morning and i'm being lazy.

thanks in advance!

 

[EBloom97]

I think you're looking at off flavors with temperatures that high, not dead yeast. I could be wrong though.

 

[aredling]

My concern is how quickly the fermentation has subsided.

I pitched the yeast at 4 pm Saturday and got home last night at 2 am. This morning as of 10 am it was very limited activity.

36 hours with not a great deal of krausen. Not to mention I don't know how long the fermentation was actually active.

 

[Ichthy]

Your beer fermented, but you will have some funky flavors by pitching that hot. Some beers have more krausen than others, so don't worry about that. Use your hydrometer to determine if fermentation is complete.

 

[Bartmannj]

I made my first batch from a kit last month, and it fermented out in about 2 days because the temperature was constantly between 74 and 80 degrees. I was thrilled that the beer tasted like beer, but now, I can definitely taste estery off flavors in it.

I'm currently fermenting another batch in the bedroom of my apartment, where I'm controlling the temperature between 70 and 77 degrees. Fermentation has been going on for over a week now.

You probably didn't kill the yeast; it might've fermented everything quickly and you risk off flavors. But hey, off flavors are flavors too! I like the ones in mine; they make the beer more complex in this case...

 

[aredling]

I'll check it tonight with a hydro and report back.

Thanks for the advice guys.

 

[TipsyDragon]

check the SG. the high temps may of resulted in a crazy fast fermentation. you could be done.

 

[Bastido]

Just call it a Saison! Fermentations temps in the 90's for Saisons, equals tasty beer!!:rockin:

 

[Ichthy]

Except for the fact that he didn't use Saison yeast.

 

[aredling]

I just got home and checked the beer again. To lower the temp I put the carboy into my keezer which is currently out of commission and set the temp to 70. There was no additional activity but I took a gravity sample and it's sitting at 1.025. Original gravity was 1.056.

Recipe was
11 lbs 2-row
1 lb 60L

.63 oz Cascade
.2 oz magnum
.38 oz perle
(all 90 min)
1 oz cascade at 15 min.

I am going to leave it for a few days to see if I can get anything lower on my gravity. Any other thoughts/suggestions?

thanks!

 

[Ichthy]

Just leave it be for a week or so until hit terminal gravity. Nothing left to do but RDWHAHB.

 

[Pierce]

If it makes you feel any better I have two 5 gallon batches doing the same thing right now. Brewed on Thursday and temps hit high 70's on Friday and Saturday. Oh well won't do that again. Next time it'll be a swamp cooler or fingers crossed a fermentation cooler.

 

[Jewrican]

if it makes you both feel better, i have about 8 batches under my belt and at least 5 of them had the same issue... too high of fermentation temps

Damn.

Fortunately, this issue is now a thing of the past

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-side-side-refrigerator-fermentation-chamber-183647/

i have an apfelwein and a Terrapin Rye Pale Ale clone fermenting away now

 

[Bartmannj]

Autumn is just around the corner. My latest batch is conditioning, and I'm taking a break in this heat until September. Then maybe pick some apples and pears and make some cider or perry...

 

[Lilahblossom]

You need swamp cooler.

 

[aredling]

Update: coming up on 12 days after pitching and the gravity is still parked at 1.025.

I am guessing that's where she'll stay?

 

[MacGruber]

I brewed a partial mash Hefeweizen this past month and just bottled it on Sunday. My first two days the fermentation temps fluctuated between 70 and 80. This happened to me once a while back and it's the same result: off flavors. I thought my terrible Wit was terrible because of bad ingredients. I taste a VERY similar flavor in this new beer, much less, but still present. Looking back, the Wit beer had a fast and furious fermentation with fluctuating temps. Fermentation temperature is going to be a number once concern in my next brew.

 

[Jewrican]

I brewed a partial mash Hefeweizen this past month and just bottled it on Sunday. My first two days the fermentation temps fluctuated between 70 and 80. This happened to me once a while back and it's the same result: off flavors. I thought my terrible Wit was terrible because of bad ingredients. I taste a VERY similar flavor in this new beer, much less, but still present. Looking back, the Wit beer had a fast and furious fermentation with fluctuating temps. Fermentation temperature is going to be a number once concern in my next brew.

this was my first several batches for me too. I have learned now - unfortunately it is hundreds of dollars later and several unhappy batches of beer.

 

[Ichthy]

Update: coming up on 12 days after pitching and the gravity is still parked at 1.025.

I am guessing that's where she'll stay?

That still seems pretty high. What temp is your fermenter at now? You may try swirling the carboy to rouse the yeast.

 

[hibbleton]

Yeah 1.025 is high for a pale ale FG. I've heard adding Beano can help get it down but with possible loss of some flavor (I don't have experience with this, just throwing it out there). If you decide to bottle at that gravity use less priming sugar in case the yeast perk up and are hungry.

 

[Jewrican]

fyi, amylase is what the homebrew store will sell. I have not used actual beano and dont know if it differs at all from amylase. I am sure a quick search could answer that question.

 

[aredling]

I have the temperature set at 70 in the fermentation chamber ie: my keezer that doesn't have any homebrew in it right now.

 

[Ichthy]

That temp is high enough, try swirling the carboy to rouse the yeast up a bit. I would use beano as a last resort. At any rate, your beer is NOT done fermenting and bottling now may lead to bombs later.

 

[aredling]

I keg so i'm not as concerned with making bombs. I swirled it around yesterday. I will check it again later this weekend and then add Beano as a last resort. Why does Beano work?

 

[floyd242]

I ferment in my basement (partially finished) and it stays 74 there in the summer... I'm only on my 3rd batch (made a BB robust porter, an APA from the recipe section, and the apple graff recipe), but they all turned out pretty good. I guess I'll wait till winter and see just how bad they really were! I used Nottingham for all 3 of them and they all stopped bubbling by the 3rd day... They all sat 3-4 weeks in the primary and 2-3 weeks in the bottle. The FGs were pretty spot on.

 

[Ichthy]

I keg so i'm not as concerned with making bombs. I swirled it around yesterday. I will check it again later this weekend and then add Beano as a last resort. Why does Beano work?

If I recall correctly, the beano contains enzymes that break down the sugars so that the yeast can more easily ferment them. The only problem is that there is no "recommended" dose and you can really dry your beer out. Search around here for some threads, there is some good info on it.

Another option could be to brew up an ordinary bitter or blonde ale, something small, and rack this beer over to the yeast cake of the bitter.