Primary temps

[booth74]

Just did my first brew, hop head from Midwest the extract kit on Saturday.

My question is my house has been hovering around 71-73 I used wyeast American ale liquid yeast

I just moved to the basement where it's cooler.
Am I screwed because for two days my house was on the "warm end" for primary fermenting
Thanks

 

[mrduna01]

If your ambient temp was 73 your wort fermented as much as close to 80 degrees. My experience is that in the first 36 hours is when most off flavors will occur from poor fermentation temps. Likely it will be a beer you can be proud of so relax but learn going forward and your beers will only get better. I like to put my fermentor in Rubbermaid totes full of of cold water and throw in a frozen two litre bottle every day or so which this time of year keeps it around 65.

So many beers... so little time.

 

[Cider123]

That yeast and most ale yeasts prefer temps in the mid 60's. 71-73 is a bit high and most of the flavor development occurs in the first few days of brewing ales. That is the news you probably didn't want to hear.
The good news is you are still going to make some good beer. You may have some extra ester flavors produced but chances are with the extra hop flavors you probably won't even notice.
It is a good thing that you corrected the fermenting temps by moving your beer to a cooler location now. For the next time, review the optimal range for the yeast you are using before you pitch. As a general rule 62-66F is a good range for many ale yeasts. However some, like the yeasts you may use for a siason, like it warmer. But then you want some of these ester flavors in a funky siason.

Anyway, don't sweat it and enjoy your beer.

 

[Paschendale]

I have a question that is sort of along these lines: I started my first batch of beer the day after Christmas, using a Saison extract kit. Now the instructions said 7-10 days on primary ferment, but I am still seeing a few small bubbles in the airlock and the hydrometer reading is still not quite where it should be. Is it common in colder weather for a ferment to take a bit longer? I have this in a corner of my kitchen, but air temperatures are still on the cool side in there. The ferment started very readily - in fact, it blew the airlock off twice within the first 12 hours, but settled down nicely. There do not appear to be any "off" odors in the primary and there is still a fair bit of foam on the top, plus when I drew off my sample to test the day before yesterday, it still foamed a bit on top of that before it settled. So I'm guessing it isn't quite done?

 

[Jayhem]

Like has been said, Ales are best if you keep the ambient air temp at low 60's and the beer temp in the mid-60's. Since you are making a hoppy beer the off flavors produced will be mostly covered up by bitterness and hop aroma. Yeast want moderate temps that remain stable. Taking the beer from 73F down to 63F will cause more problems than the high fermentation temps alone.

 

[AnOldUR]

I started my first batch of beer the day after Christmas, using a Saison extract kit.

It really depends on what yeast they supplied. If it's the Dupont strain that is common for a classic Saison it likes to be warm (80-90 degrees). If it's stopped fermenting it's probably stuck. Only a gravity reading will tell.

 

[Paschendale]

Gravity reading is 1.014, near as I can tell, I still am no expert at reading the hydrometer. The flavor of the sample is not bad at all, but the reading has not changed in a few days. I make the abv @ 4.32. I guess I will just bottle and chalk this up as a learning experience. It's definitely drinkable and it is my first batch, so perfection was not a reasonable expectation. But warmer temps would be better in the future, I guess? I can't really tell much about the yeast type from the packet....just says Belle Saison, by Danstar.

 

[Paschendale]

Beg pardon, extract kit box says Lallemand Belle Saison, if that helps.

 

[MindenMan]

A couple of things, the instructions that come with most kits have the fermenting time as too short, and you really don't need to secondary most beers. A few extra days in the fermenter has never hurt anything. Your patience will be rewarded.

 

[Lopsy]

As a personal rule, I take whatever temp range wyeast or white labs says and shift the range down by 5 degrees. And then I still ferment on the low end of the range.

I have a WLP545 and Wyeast 1214 that I ferment at 62. This is much colder than recommended, but it makes a far better beer in my opinion.

 

[Paschendale]

As a personal rule, I take whatever temp range wyeast or white labs says and shift the range down by 5 degrees. And then I still ferment on the low end of the range.

I have a WLP545 and Wyeast 1214 that I ferment at 62. This is much colder than recommended, but it makes a far better beer in my opinion.

Thanks for the advice to my poor noob self ;-) I'll bear that in mind next time.

 

[Paschendale]

A couple of things, the instructions that come with most kits have the fermenting time as too short, and you really don't need to secondary most beers. A few extra days in the fermenter has never hurt anything. Your patience will be rewarded.

Yeah, it certainly looked that way when it was still bubbling pretty good after 10 days....definitely optimistic in the total fermentation time. But the hydrometer reading hadn't changed in a full week. I think it was either stuck or done. Being my first batch I was afraid of off flavors or spoilage if it sat too much longer in the primary. Bottled and got 44 12-oz bottles.








The picture in the carboy was at day 3, if memory serves. It blew the airlock twice within the first 12 hours, it was so energetic.

 

[Paschendale]

Now here's the next worry about this: got hubby to help me with capping. He was in charge of adding the conditioning tablets and apoarently his mind was elsewhere when I told him how many to add. Short story is, he added 7 instead of 4 to each bottle, so now I am worried about bombs (not to mention off flavors). Here's the thing; I'm fairly sure they need to sit a bit as is to develop carb, but do I just open one in a certain time to test? Or should I just chill the lot now. Alternately, should the bottles be set outside to protect against bombing? I'm at a loss here on how to proceed with this, since I have never bottled beer before. I've bottled cider but only after a secondary ferment, once the brew had gone totally still, with no added carb.

 

[Corey_SS]

They should be fine. Just let them sit for a few weeks at room temperature, don't chill them yet or they won't carbonate.

 

[Paschendale]

They should be fine. Just let them sit for a few weeks at room temperature, don't chill them yet or they won't carbonate.

Prior to a possible bomb, will there be any warning signs I should look for?

 

[mrduna01]

They will probably over carbonate ghn that many tabs. If it were me I might wait a week to two weeks then crack one open every few days. Once its Carnes to your liking put every one of then in the fridge. The cold temps will put the yeast to sleep so they wont continue carbing the beer. If you don't go this route I would recommend putting them in a tightly sealed rubber maid tote or the like in case they start to blow.

So many beers... so little time.

 

[Puddlethumper]

Beg pardon, extract kit box says Lallemand Belle Saison, if that helps.

At 1.014 you're pretty close to being done. I'd move the beer to a warmer location and after a few days take a couple hydrometer readings. If the reading drops, let it ride a little longer. If it stays the same it's probably done.

Generally a saison likes 75-80F which is much warmer than most other ale yeasts.

 

[Paschendale]

They will probably over carbonate ghn that many tabs. If it were me I might wait a week to two weeks then crack one open every few days. Once its Carnes to your liking put every one of then in the fridge. The cold temps will put the yeast to sleep so they wont continue carbing the beer. If you don't go this route I would recommend putting them in a tightly sealed rubber maid tote or the like in case they start to blow.

So many beers... so little time.

I put them all down in a couple of coolers in the corner. Limits any possible mess and I needed to get them off the counter, anyway....cats.

 

[Paschendale]

At 1.014 you're pretty close to being done. I'd move the beer to a warmer location and after a few days take a couple hydrometer readings. If the reading drops, let it ride a little longer. If it stays the same it's probably done.

Generally a saison likes 75-80F which is much warmer than most other ale yeasts.

It hadn't changed in a week between readings and I didn't really have a better location it could easily be moved to, anyway. It just bottled at a bit lower abv than I'd hoped, but that's ok....it'll be a session beer, lol.

 

[SteveLikesBeer]

I've yet to have a bottle bomb. However, I put bottles in plastic bags inside cardboard boxes. I figure it blocks out any extra light and if one does blow at least some of it will be contained.

Just an FYI based on your bottle fill image above: next time I recommend filling up into the neck of the bottle as well. Having less oxygen in the bottle is a good thing. But don't worry, your beer should still be fine

 

[jrgtr42]

Yeah, it certainly looked that way when it was still bubbling pretty good after 10 days....definitely optimistic in the total fermentation time. But the hydrometer reading hadn't changed in a full week. I think it was either stuck or done. Being my first batch I was afraid of off flavors or spoilage if it sat too much longer in the primary.

Don't worry about spoilage or off flavors, especially for leaving in primary.
Unless you're talking about months and months, it doesn't hurt the beer to leave it be.

 

[Paschendale]

Well, I cracked one open and it tastes quite good, so I'm happy. I'll be making this one again. I think in the future I'll do a starter for the yeast and if the weather is colder I'll put the fermenter in a warmer place. Live and learn and keep enjoying, no?

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[booth74]

Mine also turned out just fine
I smelled a ton of bananas when I racked it but after the dry hopping and kegging it went away

I won't make that mistake again though


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[BigFloyd]

Just an FYI based on your bottle fill image above: next time I recommend filling up into the neck of the bottle as well. Having less oxygen in the bottle is a good thing. But don't worry, your beer should still be fine

+1 on the headspace. If you're using a spring-loaded bottling wand, let it fill all the way to the top of the bottle before stopping. When you pull the bottle away from the wand, it'll create just the right amount of headspace.

 

[SeeAliceBrewery]

Question....I noticed there were some clear bottles used. I was told NOT to do this as it can very easily give the beer off flavors if exposed to any light. Is this true...?

 

[Puddlethumper]

Question....I noticed there were some clear bottles used. I was told NOT to do this as it can very easily give the beer off flavors if exposed to any light. Is this true...?

You can use clear bottles as long as you are careful to keep them in the dark. I've used old Newcastle bottles without a problem. But you have to keep it in mind that light can skunk your beer. So keep the clear bottles in cases and/or in the fermenter or fridge. Brown bottles give an extra measure of safety here and that's why most people suggest sticking with the brown bottles.

 

[Paschendale]

Lol, I don't ever keep undrunk beer for long, so I would guess that even clear glass is fine for short term. Having said that, I'll agree that everything I have ever heard suggests that long term storage should only be in dark bottles.

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