Pitched yeast at 28c. Disaster?

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Roamer82

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So, I brewed a batch of extract golden ale a few days ago. I thought I'd mix it up a bit so mashed some leftover malts and boiled it instead of simply adding water. However, I ended up with 7 litres of wort instead of the 3 litres the beer set prescribed, which in turn made the final wort a bit warmer than I hoped.

Now, it was late and I was short on time. So I couldn't cool the wort sufficiently. Perhaps stupidly, after checking the SG, I figured I could add some extra cold water. It kind of worked, but I ended up with 25 litres (the set was for 23), and the wort was still too warm, at 28 degrees.

I had work the next day and was dead tired so I just dumped the 10g of burton union yeast provided with the set and put the fermentation bucket in a cold room. Now, here's the question - will I end up with a fusel/diacetyl-ridden undrinkable mess? Will the two extra litres mean there isn't enough yeast? I appreciate any feedback.

PS! There wasn't much airlock activity the next morning so I put it into a warmer room, and it's now bubbling along nicely. Oh, and OG was 1047, if that helps.
 
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I think the question of whether you'll get a high level of fusels may come down to how quickly the wort cooled after you pitched.

Your yeast pitch rate is probably ok.

Pro-Tip: placing the fermenter in a warmer room is not the way to get the wort cooled down. :oops:
 
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Ah, might have been a tad unclear there. I put it in a cold room overnight, not quite fridge-temp but pretty cold. In the morning, there was no bubbling - only some pressure in the airlock. That's why I put it in a warmer room, my fermentation room - a spare bedroom which is usually around 20 degrees. It's been bubbling away as most other brews since.

My hope is that cooling it overnight might have saved it, even though fermentation probably had started. Would it help to let it ferment for longer than the usual three weeks? I.e. let the yeast tidy up a bit more?
 
Would it help to let it ferment for longer than the usual three weeks? I.e. let the yeast tidy up a bit more?

Maybe. Yeast convert fusels to esters. I would suggest tasting the beer after fermentation is done to see if there's an issue.
 
Best guess: not likely to cause dramatic flavor issues. Waiting a bit won't hurt and might help. Definitely an occasion for the old American homebrewer motto - RDWHAHB. Your golden ale should be tasty. Cheers!
 
Thanks for the input. Calmed my nerved. Was worried I'd have to throw out the whole batch. Like that time I out ginger and chillis into an APA. 😅
 
I would say that if you had to move it to a warmer room to get fermentation started, the temperature was OK by the time it got going. I would not expect anything too off if at all. Even at 82 for a while with fermentation, it would not likely be a dumper, unless you are really fussy.
 
I had fusels in one batch I made years ago.

It tasted fine. But man one beer would give me a really wicked hangover. I mean a bad hangover.

I tried to plow through, but ended up giving up half way through the keg.

It was a similar situation. I couldn't get the temps down and just pitched the yeast. Now I'd probably just put a cover on and let it cool overnight before pitching. Assuming you sanitized well, I think it'd be fine sitting overnight.
 
I'll let it sit and try a few after bottling to check for excessive fusels. Maybe this will be the guest beer. 😇
 
Quick update for posterity. It turned out okay, but with some bitter notes I wasn't expecting. No head-aches from it though. All in all, I'm quite happy. Guests have been happy with it too.
 
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