I'm an idiot, pitched yeast too hot!

[Homer]

Was brewing an IPA from extract last night with a buddy, it was late, I was somewhat distracted, and I read my thermometer wrong. I'm not sure exactly what temp I piched at, because when I realized what I did it was already in the carboy for about 10min.

I figure I took the brewpot out of the ice bath around 145-150 degrees, I then poured 1.5 gallons of room temp water (70) in the carboy, followed by the wort (2.5 gal), then topped off with another gallon of room temp. I then took out a sample and pitched the yeast.
After realizing what I've done, I measured my sample and was still a litttle above 80 degrees, so I might have pitched close to 90

This morning it was already fermenting, and the thermometer on the carboy read 78, I will try to get this lower.

What problems can I expect, did I kill off some yeast, and now is there not enough in there to ferment my 1.065 OG down? Or will it have some wierd off flavors?

My yeast was a smack pack (no starter)
Sorry for the long post, but I have a lot of questions
Thanks

 

[Scooby_Brew]

It looks like your yeast has survived, maybe you didn't pitch it so high after all. Wild yeast wouldn't start working this fast. Don't worry about any off-flavors, I'm sure it's going to be a great IPA

 

[MikeP]

You might be fine..... but you might not get a full ferment. I'd wait and see since it seems to have started. Give it a few days (7 to 10) then maybe check the gravity again and see what you've got.

Others may have more info (and better)

 

[Buffman]

I wouldn't be too worried about pitching into 80F wort. I usually try to pitcing in the mid to high 70s to get the yeast started. However, did you use only one Wyeast pack? If so, you probably underpitched. I would pitch another while it's active to improve your fermentation.

 

[marubozo]

Like others have said, it looks like at least some of your yeast have survived. That is good. Using a smack pack without a starter is already under pitching, so if the high temps did kill any you're going to really be under pitching which could stress it further. Not the end of the world, but not ideal, either. And finally, if it's been fermenting for a while above 70 you can probably expect the beer to be a bit fruiter than you expected from the additional esters produced at those temps. Again, not the end of the world, but probably not ideal for the style.

You can pitch more yeast to try and help get the counts up if you want, but you could be just wasting another 6 bucks or whatever a packet goes for by you. If fermentation has already started then much of the off-flavor production is already well underway. The best thing you can probably do at this point is to gradually bring the temps down and then give the yeast an extra long time to hopefully clean up some of the unwanted flavors.

Regardless, you've made beer and it will probably taste good. It just might not be quite the flavor profile you were initially going for.

 

[RedGlass]

You'll be fine. I'd guess that you might get some ester formation (from high fermentation temps early on) that will leave your beer tasting a little sweet. But it'll still be beer!

EDIT: Marubozo beat me to it.

 

[ChshreCat]

I'd guess that you strained your yeast and are now fermenting well on the warm side so you can expect some off flavors, but it'll still make beer.

 

[LVBen]

I've pitched in the 90s just cause I didn't feel like waiting overnight to let my wort cool before pitching. No big deal. Yeast is quite resilient! There might be a few differences compared to if you had pitched at a lower temperature, but if your recipe is good, then so will be the beer.

 

[152Sumo]

I am drinking an American Pale Ale right now that I pitched a little high. Don't call yourself an idiot. An idiot doesn't realize the mistake. I pitched my yeast at a high temp because I thought it was better for the yeast to start out warm. I don't know the exact temp of the wort as fermentation took off, but ambient temp was in the high 60s/low 70s. My pale ale turned out a little fruity, but I am drinking it this minute and I couldn't be happier. I learned from it and the next pale ale will be better. I am sure your beer will turn out fine. If not, brew another and learn. That is what I am doing. Good times.

 

[Beernik]

I pitched my first beer at 100F. I ended up with a sour apple flavored Scottish Ale.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

You'll be fine. Your beer will probably have some esters, but otherwise, it will be fine.

I brewed my first batch with little concept of temperature. I pitched at 85-90 and let it sit in the middle of my kitchen in my apartment (in Texas, during the summer) with no cooling system other than AC. It definitely fermented in the 70s the whole time. It still turned out great. Granted, it was a belgian, so esters aren't so undesired...

 

[CiscoKid]

Like a lot of folks have told you - you're not the first person to have done this... and you won't be the last. The first beer I made, I pitched while it was way too warm. It was beer, but I won't lie, it wasn't a great beer. Certainly had some esters and some fusel off-tastes. Don't worry - I choked it down.

 

[Homer]

Wow, thanks for all the replies! I have the dry yeast that the kit originally came with (I bought the smack pack to use instead) Think I should just open it up and sprinkle it in to help out? or is this a bad Idea.

 

[marubozo]

Wow, thanks for all the replies! I have the dry yeast that the kit originally came with (I bought the smack pack to use instead) Think I should just open it up and sprinkle it in to help out? or is this a bad Idea.

Chances are the fermentation is pretty much done. At warmer temps it isn't uncommon to see beers ferment out in 24-48 hours. So, adding yeast at this point probably wouldn't make much of a difference. You're probably better off saving the yeast and chalking this up as a learning experience. Once you let the beer finish and age you can see how it tastes and get a better understanding of how high temps alter the flavor of a beer.

 

[Beernik]

I agree. You'll get most the ester production early in the fermentation. The damage is done. Repitching won't help. After it finishes fermenting, leave it on the yeast for an extra 2 or 3 weeks. The yeast might clean up some of the esters and phenols.

 

[Homer]

It fermented pretty hard for about 4 days, and now it's been about a week and I think its still going a little (hard to count bubbles with a giant blowoff tube). So I don't think the yeast was as bad off as I thought at the beginning. Think I should still keep it in there for another 2 weeks so the yeast has time to clean up? I don't want it to get bitter because of it being in the primary too long, because for this IPA I adjusted the hop schedule to cut down on the bitterness and was hoping to see if it worked.

 

[fatherbigfoot]

when you rehydrate your yeast everything I have read is to ad the yeast to 100F water so 90 should be great you might have even stimulated a faster start to your fermentation you just need to get your wort down to a good working temperature to avoid excess esters

 

[Beernik]

An extra 2 weeks isn't going to cause astringency. I'd let it sit if it was me.

 

[noobster101]

Yeast thrive @ human body temperature which is around 98, so pitching them @ 90 is a walk in the park for them

 

[Scooby_Brew]

Just letting you guys know, Fermentis recommends to pitch at 80F, +-6 degrees. Just saying, so you don't cry here later about lack of fermentation or infections.

Re-hydrate the dry yeast into yeast cream in a stirred vessel prior to pitching. Sprinkle the dry
yeast in 10 times its own weight of sterile water or wort at 27C ± 3C (80F ± 6F).

http://www.fermentis.com/FO/pdf/HB/EN/Safale_US-05_HB.pdf

 

[NewtoBrewing]

I pitched my first beer at 100F. I ended up with a sour apple flavored Scottish Ale.

Sounds interesting, very interesting

 

[Beernik]

Yeast thrive @ human body temperature which is around 98, so pitching them @ 90 is a walk in the park for them

There's a difference between thriving and producing good flavor.

If you want to get an idea of what the sour apple Scottish ale tasted like when it was young: dissolve a green jolly rancher in one. After 2 or 3 months in the bottle it was 90% conditioned out.

 

[marubozo]

when you rehydrate your yeast everything I have read is to ad the yeast to 100F water so 90 should be great you might have even stimulated a faster start to your fermentation you just need to get your wort down to a good working temperature to avoid excess esters

Just letting you guys know, Fermentis recommends to pitch at 80F, +-6 degrees. Just saying, so you don't cry here later about lack of fermentation or infections.

http://www.fermentis.com/FO/pdf/HB/EN/Safale_US-05_HB.pdf

But if you read the original post carefully you'll see that it was not dry yeast that should have been rehydrated in warm water. It was live yeast in a smack pack.