Ale pail thermometer reads 79 degrees! Is this too hot?

[Bevilaquafoto]

Good morning, everyone. I am brewing an oatmeal stout this week. Everything went well during brewing, cooling, and pitching. I used oxygen and a stone to oxygenate the wort. As my kitchen gets a fair amount of ambient light, I covered the pail with a dark gray towel. It is at full fermentation right now, bubbling away nicely, but the thermometer on the side of the pail is reading 79 degrees! Kitchen temp this morning is 72 degrees. I was at roughly 70 degrees overnight when I pitched. Do I have a problem here? Is the heat just from active fermentation? Too hot overall? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[WI_Wino]

Too hot. Probably will have some off flavors (fruity, hot alcohol, etc) .

 

[b-boy]

Yes - too hot. Ales do best in the 60s. The heat is probably from fermentation.

It might be too late, but try cooling it down. Maybe put it in a bathtub filled with cool water?

Your best case scenario is probably some off flavors. Your worst case would be fusel alcohols, which will give you rally bad hangovers.

I'd wait it out and see what you end up with.

Temperature control is, IMHO, the most important part of fermentation. Look into some ways of getting it under control going forward. There are a lot of different ideas on this site.

 

[Bevilaquafoto]

Thank you! It may be time to switch to saisons now that the summer is here.

 

[DrWill]

Ouch. That's likely to be a problem as the previous poster suggested. Some styles will let you get away with this but there's likely to be some unpleasant flavours in an Oatmeal Stout. The best thing to do is carry it through...at the very least you can learn about fermentation derived off-flavours! Who knows, maybe you can marinate a roast in it. Or, it might be fine. It's worth carrying it through.

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

Fermentation temperature control should be your #1 priority upgrade going forward.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Thank you! It may be time to switch to saisons now that the summer is here.

Take a look at this yeast strain as well.

http://www.omegayeast.com/portfolio/14158-2/

Wide temp range from 62-98 degrees F.

 

[Bevilaquafoto]

Interesting yeast strain! Will try that. Thank you!

 

[bucketnative]

Plus one for saisons. Lucky for me, I love them. I don't have temperature control on my fermentations, because I have vowed to brew "with the seasons" (And, I'm too cheap to invest in that right now). I was brewing kolschs in the basement over the winter (56 F), wits in the spring (63 F), and now that the basement has hit 68 F, I just switched to saisons.

Added: I'm also looking at those Norwegian farmhouse strains when the basement reaches the mid-80's in August.

 

[Bevilaquafoto]

Yes, sadly, I have a small kitchen in New York, and am not really able to "babysit" an ale pail in a swamp cooler where ice has to be changed out. I am a freelance photographer, and my schedule is all over the place. The one thing that I DO have going for me, is that I don't have wide temperature swings from hot to cold in my kitchen. It's either consistently at 68 in the winter, up to 72 to 74 degrees in the summer. If I brew with the season, it should work well. Unfortunately, I can't spend as much money as I would like to on brewing gear, nor do I have anywhere to store it. Thank you for all the feedback. Will let this finish fermenting. Going to add bourbon-soaked vanilla beans to the finished beer for a week after the initial two week fermentation.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Yes, sadly, I have a small kitchen in New York, and am not really able to "babysit" an ale pail in a swamp cooler where ice has to be changed out. I am a freelance photographer, and my schedule is all over the place. The one thing that I DO have going for me, is that I don't have wide temperature swings from hot to cold in my kitchen. It's either consistently at 68 in the winter, up to 72 to 74 degrees in the summer. If I brew with the season, it should work well. Unfortunately, I can't spend as much money as I would like to on brewing gear, nor do I have anywhere to store it. Thank you for all the feedback. Will let this finish fermenting. Going to add bourbon-soaked vanilla beans to the finished beer for a week after the initial two week fermentation.

Well just keep this in mind:
http://www.cool-brewing.com/

It's a bag you place your fermenter in and just swap out ice packs/frozen bottles once a day for the first 3-4 days of active fermentation. I use it in a small apartment and it works very well. If brewing with the seasons works for you then that's great, but just thought I would throw it out there

 

[Bevilaquafoto]

NICE!! That I could do! It's collapsible, also, so it stores easily. Thank you. Great suggestion.

 

[dwhite60]

Take a look at this yeast strain as well.

http://www.omegayeast.com/portfolio/14158-2/

Wide temp range from 62-98 degrees F.

75 to 85 percent attenuation! Could make for some VERY dry beers.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[DirtyPirate]

You can use a tub of water a T-shirt and a small fan to drop temps as well. Keep the T-shirt wet and evaporation cools the fermenter.

 

[beernutz]

You can use a tub of water a T-shirt and a small fan to drop temps as well. Keep the T-shirt wet and evaporation cools the fermenter.

I did this for many years when I first started brewing in the 90s. I think it is good for about a 10 degree temperature drop below ambient which is usually enough for most ales.

Other ideas: https://byo.com/bock/item/1869-controlling-fermentation-temperature-techniques