Fermentation temp spike

[mtngoat]

Hello all,

I am fairly new brewer and brewed my first all grain batch on Saturday. It's an Irish Red Ale following the Brewing Classic Styles recipe.

Pretty much hit all the numbers right except the OG with ended up high at 1.070 (too long of a bowl). After pitching my 1L starter at 64F and 12 hours I had good sign of fermentation and stabilized temp of 66F. Due to our house being pretty cold and the temp swings, I wrapped the carboy in a jacket. I now know the insulation will cause the temp to rise significantly when the fermentation is really ramped up. This morning the temperature was 76F (i have removed the insulation and hopefully when I get home it has lowered).

My question is what kind of off flavors might I expect from being 8 hours or so over the ideal temperature?

Is there risk of ruining the batch due to the spike?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Brian

 

[Netflyer]

My question is what kind of off flavors might I expect from being 8 hours or so over the ideal temperature?

Is there risk of ruining the batch due to the spike?

Don't worry the batch won't be ruined. Get the temp back down. What yeast are you using? You might get some diacetyls - buttery flavor but a nice long fermentation 3-4 weeks can cure that and I'm sure others will have ideas regarding that too. Not even sure if only 8 hours could cause too much trouble at all.

Man, that is a big temperature climb!

 

[mtngoat]

yeah, it was a fleece jacket and the yeast WLP004 really took off. Pretty excited, this is best performence I have gotten in 4 batches. Just want to make sure my bases are all covered since this is my St Patricks party beer.

Brian

 

[android]

yeah, give it an extra 5-7 days beyond what you'd normally do to let the yeast clean up anything that shouldn't be there... but 76 isn't THAT high... worse has happened. you'll probably get some extra esters, but that won't be the end of the world. i actually had a russian imperial stout in my 60 degree living room that spiked to like 74 during fermentation (reused yeast cake, by far the fastest/most vigorous fermentation i've had) and I did my normal 2 weeks in the fermenter and i don't detect a single yeast derived flaw in that beer. i think you shall be fine.

 

[gwren]

Most of us have noted the exothermic spike caused by the fermentation process. I did a day on the crush pad for a local winemaker he planned a 2 - 2.5F spike per deg Brix, depending on yeast and insulation properties of their fermenters. Our mileage may vary...