Oops!!! Fermentation temp

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PKHomeBrew

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I made a huge mistake, and I am concerned about the impact.

I made my biggest mistake yet in brewing. Made a Pilsner, and used saflager s23. I just recently cleaned out my temperature controlled ferm chamber, which is a fridge and a reptile heating wire.

Plug my fridge and the reptile heat thing into my temp controller. Set it to 10C (50F) and start fermenting. All this happened on Wednesday night. Today is Friday, and I go down to check on the beer and I can hear it bubbling like crazy through the fridge door. I open the door and can FEEL the heat. Uh oh.. i Check the temp controller and its showing 34C (93F)!!? I was flabbergasted, what the hell??? It turns out I had the heater and cooler in the wrong outlets. So the whole time it was trying to cool my beer it was increasing the heat. 34C(93F)!!!! Crap.

I fixed the wiring, but is the beer going to be drinkable???
 
That's pretty extreme for a saison yeast, much less a lager! Let us know how it goes and add your tale to the warm fermented lager thread [emoji482]
 
You'll have to tell us. Something similar happened to my very first batch. It was in a small upstairs room with a window air conditioner. For some reason the ac shut off and the room was over 90°F when I noticed.

I really didn't know enough to be worried, so I went on with it. It turned out rather well. I suggest you give it an extra week or two, to let the yeast clean up all it can, and see what happens.
 
Worst case scenario, you've invented a new beer style. Add some chili peppers to the bottling bucket and call it hot beer.
 
Another worse case scenario is you end up dumping the beer after you go thru the lengthy lager/conditioning process....but is it worth it at this point? Personally, I'd chalk it up to experience and start back over so I could free up my equipment making something I felt would be better. Almost two days at 93F is probably going to create some off flavors (harsh fusel alcohol) that will be hard to swallow. Lagers are very hard to make mistakes and get away with them, especially a ferm temp darn near double the recommended temp. You may could have gotten away with it had you caught the issue in a few hours....2 days is another situation.

Some say wait it out and see what happens...of course you tie up your equipment with a huge question mark. Others say dump, learn by screwing up and get a decent beer in the fermenter. I'd be dumping today and brewing tomorrow. Just my .02.
 
I had that happen when brewing my first kettle sour... US05 got up to 94 degrees! Beer tasted fine.
 
I have no intention of dumping it. I’m not sure why I would before I try it at least. I have more equipment if I want to brew something else. I have heard that s-23 is temp forgiving, however I assume 93F is not considered in range. :).

I’ll let you guys know.
 
Seems you had already made up your mind before you asked for opinions.
He didn't ask, "should I dump it?" And the very next line which you omitted stated the reason he wouldn't dump it. I wouldn't dump anything until I determined whether it was drinkable, whether time made a difference, and tried to identify exactly what off flavors were generated. Don't get why that bothered you.
 
Didn't mean to come off harshly. If or when I am on day two of a three month Lager process and realize I made an epic mistake....just seems a good choice to correct and start fresh.

The counterpoint is the OP will experience what a mistake can "taste" like given the circumstances. I see his point and would do the exact same thing if I had not been there, seen that or done that. He may be surprised and be able to drink it after all.
 
Didn't mean to come off harshly. If or when I am on day two of a three month Lager process and realize I made an epic mistake....just seems a good choice to correct and start fresh.

The counterpoint is the OP will experience what a mistake can "taste" like given the circumstances. I see his point and would do the exact same thing if I had not been there, seen that or done that. He may be surprised and be able to drink it after all.
[emoji482]
 
Thanks for all the help and comments. I don't take any advise as harsh. I understand why Morrey would dump it. He/She seems to understand why I wouldn't dump it - yet anyway. So I took a gravity reading, and its not quite at the expected FG, which I guess I was a bit surprised by, but I am continuing to ferment around 10C. I tasted the sample I used, and although its not straight 'clean', it's not horrible. At least not yet. I got to thinking that lowering the temp to 10C may not have been the best idea, as I may have stressed out the 34C yeast that were active, who knows.... At this point there is a chance that this won't be a fiasco, and might be drinkable, but not competition worthy. :).

I won't make that mistake again.
 
I wouldn't dump it. I remember listening to the brulosophy podcast and they tested five lager strains in high temperatures. Only two had clearly different flavor compared to the ones fermented at optimal temperatures.

Obviously they didn't ferment at 34c, though. I think it was usual ale temps, around 20c. At best case you'll get lots of banana aroma, perhaps the yeast character will stay there even if lagered. At worst, it's just undrinkable because all the off-flavors.

Its an interesting exbeeriment and would definitely stick with it.
 
I kegged my “hothouse lager” yesterday, and sampled some. I am really trying to find off flavors, but honestly I can’t. Certainly nothing to render it undrinkable. Maybe he heater i have is really slow and it did most of its fermenting in the 22-24C. Of maybe I just got lucky. Or maybe I have a terrible palet. Whatever the reason, I ended up with beer that is fine. Maybe a bit fruity, but certainly drinkable for me.
 
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