hot fermentation

[hugelake]

i recently started brewing and im on my second batch. This is a wheat ale and i have a fridge with a outside thermostat set at 75F. On the third day it quit working and was at 91F and i repaired it. Will that one day affect the taste of the beer.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Yes, that warm of a fermentation with produce a lot of esters (fruity flavors/aromas), and possibly some fusel (hot) alcohol. What yeast strain did you use?

 

[kombat]

Unfortunately, likely yes. Those first few days of fermentation are crucial, and they're when most of your off-flavours are produced. What yeast did you use? If you used a hef yeast (you did say wheat ale), then it's possible it might still be drinkable, since hef yeasts tend to be a little more tolerant of higher temperatures, even relying on them for some of their characteristic banana flavour.

That said, it's not my style. No harm in waiting it out, allowing fermentation to complete, then tasting a sample. I'd expect a lot of banana and fusel alcohols, but you never know, you might get lucky.


Finally, note that actively fermenting beer can be up to 10 degrees warmer than the surrounding ambient temperature. So if your fridge is set to 75° F (which is already 5-10 degrees too hot for an ale fermentation, by the way), then the beer is probably actually at 80-85° F, which is much too hot.

 

[freisste]

Finally, note that actively fermenting beer can be up to 10 degrees warmer than the surrounding ambient temperature. So if your fridge is set to 75° F (which is already 5-10 degrees too hot for an ale fermentation, by the way), then the beer is probably actually at 80-85° F, which is much too hot.

+1. I was actually going to say that the 90* day may have no effect at all. Likely the beer was almost done fermenting by then if ambient was 75. That assumes it was the third day of FERMENTATION, not just the third day after pitching.

Anyway, there is nothing you can do now except cross your fingers. You'll know in a few weeks.

Next brew set the temp on your fridge to the bottom end of the target fermentation range.

 

[Matt3989]

Definitely always go low with your fermentation temps for the first 3 days or so, I usually go 5 degrees under the lower limit of the yeast temps.

That being said, some beers aren't so bad with a few extra fruity esters, don't stress too much... Let the beer sit in bulk a little longer than usual too, after the yeast consume all of the sugar, they'll still be hungry, so they go back and start to process anything they can, this includes some of the by products they produced during stressful fermentation.

rdwhahb

 

[hugelake]

thanks for the advice i used wyeast and it was already fermenting by the next morning i also used nutrient and it was hot for mayby 12 hrs. Ill wait it out and see.

 

[Darwin18]

Even 75F is too hot for the majority of ale yeasts. There are cheap and easy ways to drop the fermentation temperatures down to the low/mid 60's - keep your beer fermenting here and you'll notice the difference.

 

[Matt3989]

thanks for the advice i used wyeast and it was already fermenting by the next morning i also used nutrient and it was hot for mayby 12 hrs. Ill wait it out and see.

Also, beer typically doesn't require a nutrient like wine (or especially mead) plenty of FANs and nutrients already there... Just get lots of oxygen in there.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

thanks for the advice i used wyeast and it was already fermenting by the next morning i also used nutrient and it was hot for mayby 12 hrs. Ill wait it out and see.

What strain of Wy? Different strains do different things at different temps. For most ale strains, 75º is too warm, but some strains do just fine at those temps. 90º's is too warm for most any strain aside from some saisons, and even those should be started cool.

As for the nutrient, I always recommend it, use it myself at home and in the brewery I work at. But nutrient and temp are two different things, high temp is high temp, and can result in off flavors regardless of the health of the yeast. I say your best bet is to let this batch ride out, worst case is you have some high temp off flavors and know exactly where they came from. Chalk it up as a learning experience.

 

[ballsy]

What strain of Wy? Different strains do different things at different temps. For most ale strains, 75º is too warm, but some strains do just fine at those temps. 90º's is too warm for most any strain aside from some saisons, and even those should be started cool.

As for the nutrient, I always recommend it, use it myself at home and in the brewery I work at. But nutrient and temp are two different things, high temp is high temp, and can result in off flavors regardless of the health of the yeast. I say your best bet is to let this batch ride out, worst case is you have some high temp off flavors and know exactly where they came from. Chalk it up as a learning experience.

Anyone have a good link for the different yeast strain characteristics? I have found good hops ones...haven't searched for yeast yet...

 

[Darwin18]

http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_yeaststrain.cfm

 

[ballsy]

http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_yeaststrain.cfm

Thanks, that appears to be only Wyeast strains though. I did find this one which seems very extensive, think I will be bookmarking!

http://byo.com/resources/yeast

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Thanks, that appears to be only Wyeast strains though. I did find this one which seems very extensive, think I will be bookmarking!

http://byo.com/resources/yeast

I like to cross reference the MrMalty.com guide with either Wy or White's website.

As for some good yeasts (IMO) for hoppy styles; Wy 1272/wlp 051, Wy1056/wlp 001/Safale us-05, Wy 1968/wlp 002, Wy 1318, Wy 1028/wlp 013. There's more but that's a good start.

 

[jonnyp1980]

Since the weather has been hot this is the first year my AC has not kept the temps at bay. I recently made a swamp cooler in addition to having the ac running. Works wonders and keeps my temps at 66 internal. Cheap too.