Pitching Temp

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nordoe

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So I was brewing early Saturday morning, a hefe. Everything was going well but when I was cooling down the wort, my chiller broke. The hose came off and started spraying water everywhere. Some did get into the wort, hopeful no infection. I only got the wort to about 120, so I made an ice bath in the house. After about 2 hours I only got it down to about 95. I had to go out, so I pitched the yeast. I thought the yeast would probably die and I would get more on Monday and pitch again. But it looks like it started fermenting. The airlock has been going crazy for 2 days now. How do u think it will turn out. Will I get some off flavors?
 
Pitching at 95...yes, I think you will get off flavors and some hot alcohols. What is fermenting at? Has the temp dropped?
 
My last batch, I had an opposite experience. I pitched at 70* instead of my normal 73-75*. When I pitch at 73-75 I have a nice flow of bubbles in the gas lock for the first week then it slows down to nothing just normal I thought.

This IPA we left the wort in the ICE bath a wee bit longer then normal then when it was strained into the 3 gal of waiting water. The entire batch was 70* Awesome. Well after 24 hours it was going like crazy, blowing all the water from my gas lock and flowing foam every where, I finally had to go old school, siphon hose into another car boy with water. It flowed like this for 2 almost 3 days before calming down.

I can't wait to taste it, from Primary to Secondary sample was wonderful. I cannot wait to taste when it's done.
 
One potential off flavor you can get by fermenting at too high a temp is that it will smell and taste like nail polish remover. I had that happen with one batch that got up into the 80's during fermentation.
 
The fermention started right away, like an hour or two. I would say that by evening, about 8 hours later, my temp was at 72 and I left it there. It just started really hot.
 
If you trust your sanitation you would be better off letting it sit until cool enough to pitch. What impact pitching at 90 will have, I cannot tell you. Since they suffered the heat you will probably be fine; however, you probably want the temp lower than 72. That said, I can tell you this...the first 15 hours or so after pitching the yeast is called the lag phase where the yeast are picking up all the oxygen and nutrients they need to begin their multiplication. During the lag phase hardly any flavor compounds or alcohols are produced so temps in the 70's will not result in off flavors. If the temp remains in the higher range after the lag phase, that is where you will have flavor problems.
 
I will jump in and say that as I (and many others here) have gained better temperature control, my beers are immensely better. I get my beer down to 65F, pitch the yeast, and walk away. I leave it at 65 for 4 weeks. It's certainly not quite as fun as seeing an explosive blow-off, but my results are better, and I suspect yours would be too.
 
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