Bottle Conditioning and heat problems

[Tsarface]

Sooooo, I may have made a serious error here. I successfully brewed my first all-grain batch with Wyeast 3711 almost 4 weeks ago. I bottled it on the 3-week mark because fermentation seemed to have stopped and my hydrometer reading was around 1.005. (I mashed at 153 F so I took a leap of faith and assumed the fermentation process was complete). However, my basement gets verrry chilly, like below 60 F, so I incorporated a small heater to supplement some higher temperatures. Given that the yeast is of Belgian origin, I wasn't too concerned about the fluctuating temperatures. My facepalm moment though, was that I had idiotically forgotten to turn the heater off for a period of time to stabilize the temps, and I'm pretty sure the beer got to at least 90 F, quite possibly even warmer, I put my hand to the bottles and they felt warm like laundry fresh out of the dryer. Is this going to destroy my carbonation? I read somewhere that a guy had beer carbonating in his super-hot car (something like 120F), and it turned out decent enough, but I can't help but worry that I've just pissed 3 weeks of careful patience down the drain by killing my yeast. Anyone have experience with this?

 

[secondbase]

I wouldn't worry about it, especially with the temperature range of that yeast. Give it some time to chew threw your priming sugar and clean up after itself. I'm sure it'll be fine.

 

[TheHappyHopper]

Nothing to do now but wait a few more days and give one a try - I'm sure they will be fine.

 

[Tsarface]

Thanks for the replies people. I've calmed down a little now. I turned off/removed the heater from the equation and am now just gonna be patient, maybe wait an extra week for clean-up. I *do* plan on trying one at the 10-day mark just to see if any carbing actually took place and if any nasty flavors started making an appearance (the beer tasted great when it was flat). I'll update this thread then.

 

[exileonmainst]

even if it doesn't taste very good when you try it, i wouldn't get too discouraged. give it more time, maybe lots more time, and eventually i bet it will start to taste pretty good.

 

[JimRausch]

This time of year, I routinely put a heating pad set on low on the top of my bottles in the insulated box where I condition them. After 1 week I give them a little shake to remix and usually leave the heating pad in there for another week. Then, most times I leave them there without the pad for another week or two. The bottles sometimes feel warm, like you describe. There has not been any noticeable problems. So I think you'll be fine.

 

[unionrdr]

Well, so far I've found that internal, capped bottle conditions aren't the same as a primary fermenter. High temps in the bottles don't have the same effect as primary. It's a closed environment where only low temps matter. Too low, & the yeast go dormant. That's about it. I've had bottles boxed upstairs that saw room temps of 85-90F & came out fine. With 3711 yeast, Are we to assume you bottled a saison?

 

[Tsarface]

Well, so far I've found that internal, capped bottle conditions aren't the same as a primary fermenter. High temps in the bottles don't have the same effect as primary. It's a closed environment where only low temps matter. Too low, & the yeast go dormant. That's about it. I've had bottles boxed upstairs that saw room temps of 85-90F & came out fine. With 3711 yeast, Are we to assume you bottled a saison?

Yes, it is *technically* a saison, with some tweaks. I had malted rye make up 15% of the bill with enough carafa 3 special to turn it a ruby-brown, and used a combination of Citra, Simcoe, Cascade, Sorachi, Nelson, and Centennial hops. Quite hoppy but it smelled like God farted in my basement during fermentation (in a good way).

 

[unionrdr]

Lolz. I'm not sure God had a lot to do with it, at least directly. More like one of my taco-munching, beer-soaked dinosaur farts! But I'll never admit to anything! That yeast, in my saison, produced just a little bit of that "barnyard" taste on the back, all said & done. Unfortunately as well, I got very little of that "pepper" flavor ester as well. I want more of that from that yeast next time.

 

[Tsarface]

Lolz. I'm not sure God had a lot to do with it, at least directly. More like one of my taco-munching, beer-soaked dinosaur farts! But I'll never admit to anything! That yeast, in my saison, produced just a little bit of that "barnyard" taste on the back, all said & done. Unfortunately as well, I got very little of that "pepper" flavor ester as well. I want more of that from that yeast next time.

When I sampled it I definitely got some funk on the tail-end of the taste. I don't have much experience with tasting belgian/french style beers though so I shrugged it off as an off-flavor at the time. I would agree though that I noticed almost no pepper flavors either, maybe the spicy rye addition overpowered it. Definitely a little bubblegum-banana but that went very well with my bouquet of hop flavors. I don't know if you've ever had Summit Brewing's Frostline Rye beer but it tasted VERY similar to that.

 

[unionrdr]

No, haven't had Frostline around here yet, but sounds interesting. Bubble gum/banana esters from that yeast are from the high temps. If you got the temp down soon enough, giving it another 3-7 days after FG is reached can help them clean that up.

 

[Tsarface]

No, haven't had Frostline around here yet, but sounds interesting. Bubble gum/banana esters from that yeast are from the high temps. If you got the temp down soon enough, giving it another 3-7 days after FG is reached can help them clean that up.

Good to know. I think it fermented mostly at a solid 67-68* for two weeks, then I upped it to 70-72 for the final week, so that might be why I had the esters in there. I also pitched my starter at an initial high-80's temp due to frustration with the cooling time (no chiller yet, I'm working on that), so that might be another reason.

 

[unionrdr]

Pitching at high 80's for initial fermentation would be the most likely reason. It'll need some time when FG is reached to clean up by-products of fermentation. Usually 3-7 days for me.

 

[Tsarface]

Well, not sure if anyone will read this here given the time that has passed but I've tasted my beer. Poured a nice black with dark brown highlights, 1.5 finger head. Smells like bubblegum and citra hops with some rye hanging on the end, though I've had a cold so my sense of smell is a little off right now. Taste starts with the estery bubblegum right at the front, which quickly fades to the rye spice followed by an earthy hop combo that I'm probably not sophisticated enough to identify completely. The carbonation finishes nicely with a bitter bite of a more resiny hop flavor. Overall I actually really enjoyed this for being my first ever all-grain beer.

 

[adamdillabo]

Reading the description in your earlier post made me really want to try one. Glad your beer carbed just fine.