• Please visit and share your knowledge at our sister communities:
  • If you have not, please join our official Homebrewing Facebook Group!

    Homebrewing Facebook Group

HELP! Fermentation fridge went out while lager was fermenting

Homebrew Talk

Help Support Homebrew Talk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jfolks

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2012
Messages
282
Reaction score
49
Location
Portland
So I just checked on my schwarzbier (yeast is Wyeast Bavarian Lager) which is on day 5 of fermenting at a consistent 55*, and something went wrong with the fermentation fridge (it wasn't cooling all of a sudden) and my beer is now at 72*. I checked it last night and it was fine, so this must have happened in the last 16 hours or so. Seems too early to call this a diacetyl rest (and to let it hang at 72 while I fix the fridge) - plenty of high krausen left. So I just threw the carboy in a igloo cooler with ice water for the time being.

I adjusted the temp setting on my fridge, and it seems to be cooling again. I should be able to put the carboy back in before I go to bed.

My question - what will happen to my beer? What kind of off flavors can I expect? Should I have let the beer stay at 72 and let this be the diacetyl rest? Any suggestions here? Thanks my brewin brothers and sisters!
 
UPDATE- two hours later it is down to 60 and is back in the fridge (which is cooling properly again - I have no f*#*ing clue why it stopped cooling temporarily - note, this is a restaurant-grade kegerator that I use for serving beer and fermenting/lagering lagers. I don't have a Johnson's Controls unit, so I just use the temp adjustment dial built into the kegerator - the built-in temp dial works (or at least this is the first time I've lost cooling in the year I've had it) but it doesn't have a temp range printed on it, so I have to monitor the beer temp and a jar of water's temp to see what liquid temp is in there).

Still, I'm seeking answers to my original questions...thanks!

My question - what will happen to my beer? What kind of off flavors can I expect? Should I have let the beer stay at 72 and let this be the diacetyl rest? Any suggestions here? Thanks my brewin brothers and sisters!
 
bump....no one has any insight on this? will an increased lagering time fix any off flavors? (this is only my 2nd lager).

Thanks!
 
There isn't much to say. It may have been ready for the diacetyl rest by day 5, or maybe not. No way to know without a hydrometer reading, so not much advice to give I'm afraid.
 
Back
Top