steam beer question

[jarrid]

hello all. I just registered on here because I wanted some input on my current batch, which is a Cali. Common style (NOT necessarily trying to re-create Anchor Steam).
here is the recipe that I used:

7 lb. light malt extract
1/2 lb 10L crystal malt
2 lb corn sugar
1.5 oz NOrthern Brewer (30 min.)
.5 oz Czech Saaz (2 min.)
White Labs WLP810 "San Fran Lager Yeast"

I also plan to dry-hop with another .5 oz of northern brewer in secondary.

My concern is that, for lack of a better plan, I decided to go ahead and ferment at room temperature, which is about 74 farenheit. Is this a bad call for this kind of yeast? I have only done ales so far. It is about 4 days along in the primary and is roaring right along. The first morning after pitching, the foam had blown the top right off my airlock, so i cleaned up the mess being careful to avoid contamination and switched to a blow-off style, which i've never needed before.

I am noticing a funky pungent smell coming from the bubbling pan of water. Is it: 1. Normal? 2. because of the high temp for this yeast? 3. a by-product of the amount of corn sugar added to the boil? or 4. do I have a potential contamination issue?

What should I expect from this situation? Should I be Worried?

 

[Zymurgrafi]

First of all. No, do not worry. Remember RDWHAHB! Repeat...

Now. Yes. 74 is a bit high even for ales. 60° F would be better for this yeast. This is a lager yeast but you are brewing at warmer temps. 60 is warm for a lager but this yeast strain can take it. Is the smell at all sulfury? If so that is normal. However, at that high a temp you may be getting some off flavors developing. Try to slowly cool it down. No more than 5 degrees a day. How?

You can put it in a tub of water first. Then slowly over the next few days add some ice to cool it off. Keep athermometer in there to watch it.

The blow off was also most likely due to the high temp.

Corn sugar should be okay, but why so much and why did you add that on top of 7 lbs. extract? Was it dme or lme?

What to expect...

Time will tell. RDWHAHB

 

[Zymurgrafi]

Oh,
and, leave it about 8-10 more days. Then transfer to a clean carboy. If you can, get it a little cooler still, maybe 55°F and let it sit a couple more weeks.

 

[jarrid]

Thanks. yes, the smell is a bit sulfuric come to think of it. I thought it might be somewhat normal but just heightened by the less-than-ideal conditions. I suppose some time in a secondary and some bottle conditioning could help combat some off flavors if they're not too extreme?
As for the amount of corn sugar I used; i wanted a good stiff alcohol content without so much of a full body (my friends are pilsener types). In retrospect, yeah, I overdid it a little. But anyway, OG was just a hair under 1.060.
unfortunately for this batch, I have to go out of town for a couple days tomorrow. should I crank the AC and put it in a cool bath, or deal with it when I get back? I live in Hawaii, so cool temperatures don't just happen without some real effort.

 

[Zymurgrafi]

cool bath sounds good. The idea with putting it in a water bath is that the water temp changes more slowly than the air temp so it is more stable. With the ac, you don't know if it will remain constant, plus you're payin' for it and you're not there!

Yeah depending on where you live you really have to work to moderate temps for ideal fermentation temps for any kind of beer.

I have the exact opposite problem... too cold!

There are many solutions folks have devised for controlling temps. Search the forum to find some ideas. I can give you lots of warming suggestion, but that won't help you much.

Now you just wait. It'll probably be fine. Good luck.

 

[jarrid]

I got back home last night. While away, I set the AC to 70 degrees (our military housing has flat-rate for utilities, so no worry there) and that is what the beer was at according to the stick-on thermometer. It has cleared to a nice soft caramel color, bubbling every 4-6 seconds and the 'exhaust' coming out of the airlock smells much more beer-like!

I just set the carboy into a coleman cooler (that i forgot i even had until poking around the storage closet today) with some cool tap water and a little bit of ice (and a little idophor solution for good measure. I'll incrementally add more ice to lower the temp more, both before and after racking into secondary. I know that steam beers originated out of the need to make do with what you have, so I figured I would recapture that in this attempt. Maybe I will invest in some more sophisticated temperature controlling methods in the future. But for now, I'm optimistic about this batch again. Thanks again for the advice, and I'll post my findings/results up here for anyone interested.

 

[mummasan]

i live in hawaii too and found that it is too warm so i am currently building the 'son of fermentation chiller'

only spent $37 so far - it should keep ferm temps in the high 60s

 

[casebrew]

I'm sure I'll get corrected, but isn't that exactly what "Steam Beer" is? Of course, S.F. never hits 75...

 

[jarrid]

another question regarding this one; it has been in secondary for 6 days at temps pretty consistently in the low 60's thanks to the water bath and ice.

When I prime and bottle, would room temperature (mid 70's) be ok for carbonation - should I shoot for maintaining the 60-64 degrees that it has been in - or thirdly, would it bealright to just stick all the bottles in the fridge, which is about 43 degrees (according to my thermometer and an old applesauce jar)?

I'm thinking about bottling tomorrow and then letting it bottle condition for a while.

 

[jarrid]

ok, i know this thread has been dead for a while and I don't really mean to bring it back, but I'm happy to report that this batch turned out bloody delicious!

I unveiled it last weekend and a good chunk of the batch has been consumed already. We cheated and tried a few of them the weekend before. There was a major fruity character at that time that has mellowed perfectly leaving just enough to make it a unique tasting brew.

Thanks again for the help, guys.