Can I wait 12ish hours to pitch yeast?

[ClemTiger0408]

During the summer, my hose water temp cannot get the boiled wort to a temperature less than ~75F with a wort chiller. I have the Cool Brewing bag, but I find it takes 12 hours or so to get the beer down to desired temps.

Am I better off pitching the yeast at the 75F temp and it taking the time to cool, or should I wait to pitch the next morning when the wort is down to the desired temp? Does that 12 hours or so at a higher temp affect final results?

 

[beeber]

I look at it this way. You are giving the nasties a 12 hour head start on your beer. Pitch right away and cool as fast as you can. Higher temp may produce some off flavors depending on the yeast. Get a clean yeast that is tolerant of high temp and you will be fine. S-05 and Edme ale are some of the choices I would use.

 

[bobeer]

i've let my wort cool over night before and pitched in the morning and i've always been fine. I think pitching at 75 degrees is ok too. Unless you made a starter there's always a day or so of lag time anyway.

 

[dinnerstick]

i'm in the leave-it-overnight camp. get it sealed off into the clean fermenter and you should be fine. i prefer the lag before pitching to risking a high fermentation temp. 75 = 24c... that's pretty high for most yeasts. but you'll still get beer in the end

 

[BulldogBrewer]

This is the reason I've gone no-chill this year. Haven't had any problems yet.

 

[wobdee]

Do you guys reaerate before pitching when leaving it overnight?

 

[BulldogBrewer]

Yes. I won't aerate when it's still hot. I transfer it hot to a cube and get all the air bubbles out. Then in the morning I will transfer to the fermenter and shake aerate it.

 

[westo2]

I look at it this way. You are giving the nasties a 12 hour head start on your beer. Pitch right away and cool as fast as you can. Higher temp may produce some off flavors depending on the yeast. Get a clean yeast that is tolerant of high temp and you will be fine. S-05 and Edme ale are some of the choices I would use.

As long as you are good about your sanitation - there are few nasties to take hold anyways.

I generally chill to about 100 or so, toss it in the chamber and aerate and pitch the next day. As the wort and air will contract as it cools the rest of the way - I also place a piece of sanitized foil over the stopper rather than the airlock to keep suck back from happening Dozens of batches done this way, I have yet to have an issue.

The risk of off flavors from pitching yeast too warm far exceeds the risk of an infection (with the caveat - as long as you are thorough about your sanitation).

 

[tooldudetool]

I say you'd be fine to pitch, if you actually look at the instructions on a white labs vial, it tells you to pitch between 70-75 degrees, even if the recommended fermentation temperature is in the 60s. It also says its an adequate cell count for up to 1.070. I was always very confused by this, especially considering the Yeast book was written by jamil and Chris white, and their recommended pitching rates recommend starters for anything over 1.045 or so. Somebody here on HBT clued me in to the fact that WL wants you to pitch at those higher temps because the increased yeast activity due to the higher temps during the lag or growth phase basically makes your 5 gallons of wort into a giant starter, increasing cell count before primary fermentation really begins, which theoretically allows you to pitch the vial directly without a starter. Once this initial phase is over the wort should be cooled to the recommended fermentation temps. This leads me to believe that there shouldnt be any off flavors from doing it this way. Interesting, right?

 

[homebrewdad]

You can absolutely leave it overnight. This is what I do for lagers every time I brew them.

My ground water is not cold enough to get the wort below around 75 F, so the carboy has to go into the ferm chamber overnight to get to around 50 F. These beers have been delicious.