funny bubbles

[fischfam]

This is my first brew in about 20 years and maybe I am just missing something but let me ask anyway. I made a 5 gallon batch of Summer Weiss from a kit with extracts, bitters and finishing hops using Heferweiss liquid yeast. Boiled for an hour and it took like 6 hours to get below 90 degrees F when i pitched the yeast (approx 88 F). The wort is in a 6 gallon plastic bucket with a poly liner bag and airlock. It didn't bubble at all for like 16 hours then went crazy for about 10 hours and now seems to have stopped. There is foam on top of the wort and seems to be pressure in the container but no bubbles. Should I be concerned, re-pitch some new yeast or just leave it alone for a week or so? There might be a slow leak using the plastic container with the bag in it. maybe next time i will use just the container w/o out the bag or my old glass carboy to try a better seal. Comments!
BTW, right now it is in front of an AC vent so it is sort of cold.

 

[petree3]

While it is possible it got infected sitting exposed for six hours it is most likely just a leak in the bucket. The most scientific and sure way to know what's going on is to measure the specific gravity. I would do that and let it sit for a few weeks

 

[TopherM]

88F is a pretty high pitching temp. In the future, you really need to pitch at closer to 65-70F for a typical ale yeast.

So the good news is that a rapid fermentation would be consistent with your high pitching temp. Temperature is a catalyst to yeast activity, so you likely fermented all the way out in a very short time.

The bad news is that fast fermentations at high temps are also dirty fermentations. Once you speed yeast up like that, they give off alot more byproducts and fuesel alcohols. Your beer is likely to have some slight off flavors as a result. You can, however, condition these off flavors out of the beer given enough time. Once you get this batch bottled, you probably need to give them a good 4-6 weeks to condition to mellow out the off flavors.

Remember in the future that a SLOW fermentation is a clean fermentation, so you typically want to pitch and ferment at the lower end of the yeast's recommended temperature found on the packaging.

Good luck!