Oh darn it

[dallasdb]

I think your advice to relax and enjoy brewing is great. But advising new brewers that fermenting temps aren't important is bad advice, IMHO.

You don't need to brew a recipe multiple times to taste the hot alcohols or excessive esters often produced by fermenting ale yeasts at 75 degrees. Those flavors will be apparent to nearly anyone, and they won't be pleasant.

I didn't mean to advise him to completely ignore ferm temps, sorry if it sounded like that. I meant to advise him to relax in this situation. The OP said directions recommended 65-73 ferm range and he was worried when he was at 70-71.

I've let my ferm temp hit 78 for a few days on 1 batch and I couldn't taste any off flavors. However I typically brew brown or amber ales and IPAs so I would imagine darker and hoppier brews could hide off flavors.

Point being, relax and don't worry. If the directions give you a range and your temp is within that range you'll be fine.

 

[dallasdb]

Hey Shaffer,

Is it done yet? Haha

 

[Hang Glider]

For future brews, sgoehner, take the advice above and relax...

If you can start it closer to your desired range, better...but not critical. Moving it to the cooler environment certainly APPEARED to stop your yeast activity, but you did nothing of the sort. As long as you're within the range, you're fine. The yeast know what to do.

I ferment all my ales at 62. they settle in, get comfortable, and then go crazy. Yours will be fine too.

Welcome to HBT, to brewing, to this new hobby...and congrats on the brew!

 

[mannye]

Just to chime in again, I also didn't mean to tell the OP that temps are irrelevant, just that when I first started some 20 years ago, I too was worried about the high temps and relatively quick fermentation times I was getting but then always very surprised at how good the result tasted. Especially my first batch which I remember being completely positive would be a total disaster!

It's important to keep in mind that most beginning brewers are coming off big commercial bland beers. The explosion of microbrews today makes this statement a little less accurate, but I still feel that it bears mentioning since so many still come to homebrew from the Bud/Corona/Heiny experience.

Like anything else, brewing at home can be made as complicated as we want but I think it's important to let beginners know that they can relax and enjoy the process at a relatively simple kit level and still get results that are far better tasting than the 12 pack of Bud Light at the grocery store.

But yeah, eventually, you'll want to get those temps under control! in fact, that's the first step you take when you want to get to the next level!