Fermintation temp?

[jdjtexas]

First I thought it was not gonna go... Now it's getting crazy and with that the temp has risen from 69 on the temp strip to 76-77. I saw this and quickly got a cold wet shirt wrap and fan blowing on the carboy... Am I ok? This is a Brit pale ale. Yeast said 68-74 is optimal. It might of read in the 70s all day

 

[OG2620]

Only thing to do is wait and see how it tastes when all is said and done. It'll take some time for the cold, wet shirt wrap to effectively lower the fermentation temp. back to the normal range.

 

[aiptasia]

The primary fermentation tends to elevate temperatures quite a bit. The by-product of high temperature fermentation on many strains of yeast will produce off flavors. It's a good idea to just let the beer sit in your primary fermenter for three to four weeks to give your yeast time to convert any fusel alcohols such as diacetyl out of the beer. Even after that, conditioning in bottles or kegs is going to improve the flavor to an extent. If your beer tastes bad (buttery, apple, etc.) then let it sit a little longer to condition.

 

[Tiredboy]

Have I misunderstood? If you ferment too warm, leaving it longer can reduce the effect?

 

[paulster2626]

Have I misunderstood? If you ferment too warm, leaving it longer can reduce the effect?

Yes - I had some banana tasting beer from too high a ferm. temp. I was pissed, it sucked. Now those 2 batches have cleared themselves of this nasty off-flavour, and all I had to do was let it sit in the cold cellar and not drink it. Easy fix.

 

[jdjtexas]

Yea there is a faint banana smell coming through the airlock. I moved it to the green room which is 61 deg and wrapped a wet towel around it. Now I wonder... At 2 am when it's cooler... Should I move it inside ?

 

[paulster2626]

Yea there is a faint banana smell coming through the airlock. I moved it to the green room which is 61 deg and wrapped a wet towel around it. Now I wonder... At 2 am when it's cooler... Should I move it inside ?

I've been using my cold cellar to ferment in for the past several batches with great success. I live near Toronto, so sometimes it gets pretty cold down there. Coldest I've seen is 4C (39F), but usually it hovers around 8-10C (50F), and a little higher during the day. The way I figure, if the yeast get started and really kick in, they'll bump up the internal temp by 10 or so degrees. It's still technically a little cold, but it works. After a couple weeks I'll take the buckets out and let them sit at room temperature for a few days, which seems to finish things off that last little bit. Then back in the cellar for 1-2 weeks before bottling to let things settle out again.

So far so good - the way I figure is if the yeast seem happy, then they're happy.

So I say just leave it as cool as possible, and let your hydrometer tell you what to do. It's easy to wake yeast back up again to get back to work, just move the fermenter to a warmer area.

 

[jdjtexas]

Soo... A 12-18 hr period of 76max temp (actual not ambient) should not adversly affect my beer right?

 

[badbrew]

Soo... A 12-18 hr period of 76max temp (actual not ambient) should not adversly affect my beer right?

I doubt it.