Strange smelling stout. Possible too high fermentation temp

[Vorsicht709]

I started fermenting a stout about a week ago. After the first day I noticed the tempature was a little high at around 73 (I used a stick on thermometer on the fermenter) I immediately moved it to a cooler room for the rest of the fermentation (the room was around 60). Im just wondering if this high of a tempature would be enough to cause any off flavours.

The reason I ask is when I went to take a hydrometer reading the other day, it smelled kinda weird. It was sort of a sourish smell, I cant quite put my finger on it.

Anyone have any ideas??

 

[smizak]

Beer will smell funny during fermentation. Don't try to judge it until it's way done and in the bottle/keg for a couple weeks.

My beers usually go through a sour smelling phase just before fermentation is done. Prolly acetaldehyde before it gets converted to alcohol. Probably fine, maybe just a little estery.

What yeast did you use?

 

[Vorsicht709]

Coopers brewers yeast

 

[vespa2t]

let it condition and then see how it is. If its still funky, let it condition longer. In time, 95% of beers will fix themselves.

 

[Vorsicht709]

So conditioning can fix the off flavours made by high temp fermentation?

 

[HillbillyBrewer]

Cooper's Ale Yeast: A good all-round yeast for a variety of ales. Produces complex woody, fruity esters at warm temperatures; reported to be more heat tolerant than other strains. Recommended fermentation temp: 65-75° F; medium attenuation and flocculation. Optimum temp: 65°-75° F

I'm just guessing, but I'd say it is some type of a Chico strain. I made a Cream Ale not too long ago using 1056 and my ambient temp was 76, beer temp was 80. I since made another Cream Ale, same recipe, same process (except for a 60 degree ferm. temp), and I gotta say, I enjoyed the higher temp one a LOT better. Now this may have been awful it were any other yeast strain, but given the description of the yeast I'd say you're fine. But like smizak said, fermentation can give some really funny smells. I think 1056 fresh from a smack pack smells horrid. And yes, longer conditioning can fix a lot of "problems".

 

[Vorsicht709]

Thanks for the info my temp fell nicely within that range