First time brew - high temperature

[tomoncanterbury]

So I recently completed my first brew (an English bitter) and as you all know (and I now know as well) the instructions that come with these kits aren't fantastic.

Basically, I have no idea what temperature I pitched the yeast at, probably 80 degrees or so. Also, I let it sit for a day fermenting at 81 degrees. It's really hot at my place. After some research I learned how important temperature control is and placed the fermenter in a basin with maybe 4 inches of water in the bottom and wrapped and wet towel around it to try and get the temperature down. It's sitting at about 73 degrees now but my concern is that letting it ferment for a day at 81 (esters and such) and then bringing the temperature down to 73 stressed the yeast.

How bad is it going to be? At least I have learned a lesson or two for next time!

Thanks,

-Tom

 

[jodell]

It won't be undrinkable, but there might be some funny flavors.
Bringing the temperature down would not have likely stressed the yeast..in fact the exact opposite.

Always try to pitch on the cooler side.

 

[kh54s10]

How bad, only time will tell. It will probably be drinkable, might even be pretty good. But, it will not be as good as it could have been.

Bringing the temperature down shouldn't have caused any additional problems. The next time use the same cooling setup but use frozen water bottles, rotate as needed to keep the wort temperature below 70. 64 -66 would be better for most ale yeasts. Look at the package or website to find the optimum temperature. I usually target just below then midway of the optimum range.

 

[flars]

Daily temperature swings can be minimized by having the fermentor in the largest volume of water possible. A fan blowing on the wet towel will accelerate cooling.

Picture of a set up I had used in the past.

 

[tomoncanterbury]

Thanks, good tips for next time. We will see how this one turns out.

 

[kristiismean]

Yep, it'll be beer. if anything, it's a good practice for bottling, making sure your sanitation methods are good, and to see if you oxidize during bottling.

I like to chill to fermentation temperatures, not just pitching temperatures. if i am pitching at 60, I try to chill to 60 (sometimes not possible depending on your area or times of the year)

 

[mongoose33]

Just to extend a little bit, yeast is exothermic, meaning it will produce heat during fermentation. That heat can add 5-10 degrees over what the ambient temp is, meaning if your room temp is 68, say, the wort temp could be easily in the low-to-mid 70s.

I'm fermenting a dark lager using WL940 right now. Chilled the wort down to 75, pitched the yeast, put in ferm chamber to take it down to 50 degrees to ferment. The next morning it was going to town.

The key there is I didn't leave it at 75, during the lag phase the yeast aren't producing much, and the temp was shortly down into the 60s and dropping.

 

[tomoncanterbury]

It's sitting about 70 degrees now, however I have noticed a weird small green square (picture attached). Obviously I'm concerned about infection but it's really square and green and doesn't really look like an infection. It's the only spot I can see it. Maybe it's a piece of label but I did peel the label off the can before I poured the liquid malt extract. I've attached a picture.

 

[owmatooth]

it could be a secret decoder ring that comes with the extract kits!

 

[tomoncanterbury]

For anyone interested, came out very drinkable. A little thin and not overly complex. More bitter than malty. A bit of that "Homebrew" taste that I think is from the higher temperature.

 

[Lefou]

Tell you what.
If you're deciding to brew in warmer temperatures consider making a saison. That yeast handles the heat better. It's a great opportunity to learn what certain yeasts bring to the table when making choices about which beers would be best for seasonall brewing.
The best decision is getting a temperature controlled fermentation chamber which can be a refrigerator or a small converted chest freezer with thermal controller, then you can brew most anything year-round and not worry about heat.

 

[RM-MN]

For anyone interested, came out very drinkable. A little thin and not overly complex. More bitter than malty. A bit of that "Homebrew" taste that I think is from the higher temperature.

Cooler fermenting temperatures will definitely help with the flavors. Now that you have sampled and found the beer to be a bit thin, make a new batch and let this one sit at room temp for another month. I think your "thin" beer will gain body and complexity from the extra time.

 

[kristiismean]

whatever you do, keep making beer. If you like ESB, then you should make another one, following better temp control. Sometimes it's as easy as picking up a 50 dollar fridge or full size wine cooler, or swamp cooler. (or like me, buy a house that has a basement that stays at 66 during the summer, 55 in the winter ..

what I would recommend, is brew it again, BUT, do it, set it aside, (keeping it cool for the first two weeks, like 65 if possible using s-04 or wyeast 1098, or 1099 depending on how my big ale turns out). THEN, make another beer the next week, something else, a wheat, an amber, pale ale or IPA.. NOW, do not bottle the ESB until the beer you made a week later is bottled. This will be a good example on what time does. IPA's are good in two weeks, some benefit from a 4 week fermentation, but a simple ale get's done quick. The best ESB I ever made was when life got in the way and it sat steady on the yeast cake for 1 1/2 months. Smooth.

 

[tomoncanterbury]

what I would recommend, is brew it again, BUT, do it, set it aside, (keeping it cool for the first two weeks, like 65 if possible using s-04 or wyeast 1098, or 1099 depending on how my big ale turns out). THEN, make another beer the next week, something else, a wheat, an amber, pale ale or IPA.. NOW, do not bottle the ESB until the beer you made a week later is bottled. This will be a good example on what time does. IPA's are good in two weeks, some benefit from a 4 week fermentation, but a simple ale get's done quick. The best ESB I ever made was when life got in the way and it sat steady on the yeast cake for 1 1/2 months. Smooth.

I'll have to get another fermenter so I can try this. I've read conflicting things regarding letting it sit in primary for too long but mostly it seems like it's fine.

 

[RM-MN]

I'll have to get another fermenter so I can try this. I've read conflicting things regarding letting it sit in primary for too long but mostly it seems like it's fine.

I chatted with a guy who left his beer in the fermenter for 6 months. He said that still wasn't too long.

 

[mongoose33]

whatever you do, keep making beer. If you like ESB, then you should make another one, following better temp control. Sometimes it's as easy as picking up a 50 dollar fridge or full size wine cooler, or swamp cooler. (or like me, buy a house that has a basement that stays at 66 during the summer, 55 in the winter ..

This ^

If you're patient on Craigslist or similar, you can score a small minifridge that will allow you to control ferm temps. Below is one I found for which I paid $60. It's a 4.4-cuft fridge, and I wouldn't go much smaller than that.

The one below barely fits my fermenter without removing the plastic panel from the door, which can also be done to provide more room. I wanted to retain it's potential use as a refrigerator down the road, so I didn't remove the plastic door panel. It has to be cut out so it's a permanent modification if I do it. I have the fermenter sitting on a piece of 1x8 to allow the lower protrusion on the door to clear the fermenter.

[BTW, obviously my fermenter wouldn't fit with an airlock on it. Some people will gently bend the freezer compartment back and down out of the way but i wasn't comfortable doing this. You can use a small tube in stopper connected to a bit of silicone tubing and terminate that in a jar of Star-san inside the fridge, similarly to what people do with blowoff tubes. I just have this one going through a hole in the front top of the fridge and terminating in a home-made krausen catcher which in theory will feed CO2 back into the fermenter when I cold-crash it. I also drilled a hole for the fermwrap cord and Inkbird temperature sensor. The holes have rubber grommets in them, and I had to cut the fermwrap cord and reconnect it.]

Couple this refrigerator to a fermwrap or reptile mat for heat (under $25), and an inkbird temp controller (under $40, and if you're patient, watch Inkbird's specials here. Last one I got was $28--and yes, I have four). You can do this without the fermwrap or reptile mat for heat--I just use those for easily bumping up the temperature for a rest, or to allow the yeast to clean up after themselves. But you could also just remove the fermenter from the fridge and let it come up to room temp--same deal.

I just saw a similar refrigerator pop up on my facebook feed--they wanted $35 for it. Took a lot of willpower not to buy it, but what would I do with it? I already have two ferm chambers, and one is camoflaged!

So--for under $100 you can have a fully functioning fermentation chamber that is also relatively small. And relatively inexpensive!