Beginners question

[diannotti]

My first brew (Scottish ale, nottingham yeast OG 1.036) is currently in the fermentation chamber I built.

My first brew went mostly as planned ( did a full boil ) except after pitching at 70 degrees (Saturday 3PM) I transferred the carboy to my ferm chamber - the temp climbed up to 76-78 - Ferementation seemed to start within a few hours. The temp did not drop to 72 till Sunday morning, after getting more ice in my chamber ( I was not properly prepared with enough ice) I brought the wort to 66 by late Sunday night although by this point most fermentation seemed over. I have kept it at 66 since. Raised it to 67 today. ( These are wort temps - probe on carboy)

1)Off flavors? too hot? If so what is the likelihood of doing anything about it - is it worth trying to "reawaken" the yeast? (there seems to be a good cake at bottom of carboy) Should I raise the temp back up slowly to say 70? Will this slightly awaken the yeast and achieve some "cleanup"?

2)How long do you think I should wait till racking? I do plan on taking a SG reading today but didnt want to prematurely. If the majority of fermentation is done will there really be any benefit or "cleanup" by the yeast in my carboy?


Sorry for all the questions. I have attached a couple photos of the wort / beer in case they may provide any clues to my questions - This is a 5 g carboy that I did not totally fill ( Given your experience can you tell about what the volume is?)

Just put in chamber:

Already done? uh oh

Yeast

 

[esocid]

It looks like it was pretty active.

As for the flavor, it may not be that ester flavor, but more towards the fruity side since that yeast likes 57-70F. At least this is the case with hefeweizen yeasts, when you go towards the warmer side you get that banana flavor instead of the strong ester flavor. It may not have fully attenuated either, so your FG may be slightly lower than you hoped. At this point raising it to 70F won't hurt, and give the carboy some gentle shaking to stir up the yeast cake. You may get some cleaning, but without a secondary it won't really clarify.

I'd say wait at least until this weekend to rack, or even until the middle of next week, especially if you get the yeast back into solution. Let the yeast do their job. Congrats on the brew, and relax. It looks like it went well.

If that's a 5gal carboy, it looks like 4.25gal full.

 

[dcp27]

As for the flavor, it may not be that ester flavor, but more towards the fruity side since that yeast likes 57-70F. At least this is the case with hefeweizen yeasts, when you go towards the warmer side you get that banana flavor instead of the strong ester flavor.

esters are what give you the fruit flavors

It may not have fully attenuated either, so your FG may be slightly lower than you hoped.

higher temps usually drive a fuller attenuation

You may get some cleaning, but without a secondary it won't really clarify.

1000% false. theres nothing magical about a secondary that allows a beer to clarify any better than in the primary


leave this in the primary for at least another week. notty can get pretty gross when it goes above 70F so you'll want some extended time on the yeast to clean things up. in general (belgians, wheats, and saisons aside), don't pitch above 70F and try to keep it under 70F for at least the first 48hours. when you get into higher temps you will get more esters and you risk fusels developing (harsh alcohol flavors)

 

[diannotti]

esters are what give you the fruit flavors



higher temps usually drive a fuller attenuation



1000% false. theres nothing magical about a secondary that allows a beer to clarify any better than in the primary


leave this in the primary for at least another week. notty can get pretty gross when it goes above 70F so you'll want some extended time on the yeast to clean things up. in general (belgians, wheats, and saisons aside), don't pitch above 70F and try to keep it under 70F for at least the first 48hours. when you get into higher temps you will get more esters and you risk fusels developing (harsh alcohol flavors)

Ok, so at least another week ( that would be 11 days total ) and what about agitating the yeast , worth it, not worth it? Leave temp where it is ( 67) ?

 

[dcp27]

its only worth agitating the yeast if you have a stalled ferment. ive never seen this happen with notty, but the only way to know is by a hydrometer reading. 67F is fine to leave it at, but since fermentation is complete already, keeping temp isn't that critical.

 

[diannotti]

Anyone else have any feedback? Does it really not matter what temperature I keep my wort / beer now that fermentation is likely done? In general does it not matter what temp something is aged / conditioned at? Anyone think I should keep it in the primary two weeks total? All feedback greatly appreciated as this is my first brew. Thank you.

 

[Piratwolf]

My experience backs up what dcp wrote. And I'd definitely say leave it in primary *at least* 2 weeks.

 

[el_caro]

Anyone else have any feedback? Does it really not matter what temperature I keep my wort / beer now that fermentation is likely done? In general does it not matter what temp something is aged / conditioned at? Anyone think I should keep it in the primary two weeks total? All feedback greatly appreciated as this is my first brew. Thank you.

I would leave it in the primary for at least 2 weeks and yes temperature is still important throughout the whole process from beginning to drinking.
I think temperature is quite important in the aging/storage of beer. I keep my bottles at about 20°C(68°F) for the first 2 weeks after bottling to carbonate then store in a beer fridge when possible. It keeps them cool and away from the light.
I have certainly noticed that the beers in the fridge taste better after a few months than the bottles from the same batch that have not been refrigerated and just left sitting at a steady cellar temperature of around 60 - 65°F.

 

[diannotti]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I am going to keep it at 67-68 for 14-18 days then rack, and hope for the best.

 

[dcp27]

I should expand on what I said a lil. what I mean is that putting in work to hold it at that specific temperature isn't critical anymore since most off-flavors are produced during active fermentation. you still don't want it to go thru wild swings or get too hot. since you have it in a chamber, im guessing that won't be an issue.

btw, when you say rack after 14-18 days, do you mean to a secondary or to bottling? I wouldn't bother with a secondary on a beer of this size. there's nothing wrong with using a secondary (you can read this for the debate: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/secondary-not-john-palmer-jamil-zainasheff-weigh-176837/ ), but smaller beers don't tend to benefit from extended aging as much and unless you're racking it onto something, theres really no need to move it.

 

[diannotti]

dcp, thanks, and I agree I will not be using a secondary for this brew. I intend to leave it be at 68 and then rack to the bottling bucket. I have also been toying with putting half of it in a Party Pig / half in bottles.