1st Batch is in the Carboy, opinions VERY welcome

[Karl434]

First off, sorry for not posting in the Introductions first, I just got home from Germany early this morning. So to get to the point, I bought all of the equipment/ small batch kits while I was gone, and decided after unpacking it all, I'd clean everything, then knock out my first brew.

So everything went great, had no problems with the boil/wurt. I did a LOT of reading on here in my free-time when I was gone. Only issue (which I hope ISNT an issue) is that I got a phone call and had to head out pretty quickly after siphoning the wurt into the 3 Gallon carboy. I sloshed it around a little to aureate it per the instructions, but here is why I'm a little nervous. The instructions say to pitch the yeast into the carboy, but the Hefe yeast that came with the kit said to rehydrate it in 4oz of water first. So I followed the instructions on the yeast packet and rehydrated it. After that, I had very little time so I went ahead and pitched it into the carboy, but the temp read 74 degrees.

Will pitching the yeast at this temp affect anything with the fermentation? I placed it in the area I set up for my brews, with an ambient temperature of around 67-68 degrees before I left.

 

[Smellyglove]

A little on the hot side. But you should celebrate. Good beer it shall be (if you watch your temps).

 

[Bob]

It'll start a little hot, but it'll cool down. No worries. It'll still be beer.

Welcome to the hobby!

Bob

 

[Karl434]

Thanks to you both, that puts my mind at ease.

 

[OnDaReglah]

It'll be just fine. Might take a bit longer to get going but in the end it'll turn out fine. Congrats on your first brew!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[garcia]

Tell us more about your beer. All grain, extract, style, what type of yeast, etc etc.

Your beer is fine.

 

[flars]

I would set your fermentor in a tub of water, swamp cooler, to help cool it. The yeast will become active at the warm wort temperature. An active fermentation will produce heat. With an ambient temperature of 67° to 68° the fermentation will be 4° to 5° higher. This may be above the optimum temperature range for your yeast.
Check the manufacturers site for optimum fermentation temperature.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Your fine, and also lucky its a Hefe, so a lot of the byproducts you wouldnt want in a beer from a hot fermentation are expected tastes in a Hefe. You should still work on keeping it in the mid 60's...that way even at its max it will get up to 68-69F.

 

[Karl434]

Ok, I put a fan in the area to keep cool air going to the carboys and think I might go pick up a tupperware container to keep them in a few inches of cool water.

Thanks for the tips. I kept a lot of notes on the 2 brews I made Sunday, so if something is off, I should have a pretty decent of what happened if I screw something up. . . . which I hope I don't/didn't

 

[flars]

Complete notes on yeast handling, temperatures, fermentation activity, taste of hydrometer samples are the best things you can do for your next brew.

 

[Karl434]

I would set your fermentor in a tub of water, swamp cooler, to help cool it. The yeast will become active at the warm wort temperature. An active fermentation will produce heat. With an ambient temperature of 67° to 68° the fermentation will be 4° to 5° higher. This may be above the optimum temperature range for your yeast.
Check the manufacturers site for optimum fermentation temperature.

For my temperature readings, I've been getting them from the Fermometers on my carboys. Should I assume that there is a 4-5 degree temp difference from the reading and actual temp, or are they assumed to be fairly accurate?

 

[flars]

For my temperature readings, I've been getting them from the Fermometers on my carboys. Should I assume that there is a 4-5 degree temp difference from the reading and actual temp, or are they assumed to be fairly accurate?

The Fermometers are accurate on a glass carboy. May have to interpolate a 1° difference sometimes by the shading between even degree numbers.

 

[Karl434]

The Fermometers are accurate on a glass carboy. May have to interpolate a 1° difference sometimes by the shading between even degree numbers.

Ok awesome, thanks very much for the help. I've been thinking about getting a 7gal chest freezer to insulate my brews since the temp isn't too high and I only need to drop the temp a few degrees to get it in the ideal range.