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Temperature at 80 - too high?

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OakBehringer

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Brewed some beer last night. My third time, but my last attempt was over two years ago, so I was starting again at n00b status.

When I was getting my ingredients at the brew store, the guy behind the recommended that I get a "brew belt" to keep my Belgian Abbey Ale at ~80 deg while fermenting. I took his advice, made my wort, cooled it to 80, direct pitched my yeast, put on the brew belt, went to bed. Woke up two hours earlier than usual, couldn't sleep, worried about my beer :) I remembered from my first two attempts that the yeast packet recommends a temperature on it. I got out of bed, checked the package, sure enough: 70-75 degrees. Dammit.

I have kinda panicked, took the brew belt off, put the carboy in a tub of cold water to try to cool it. It's been 8 hours since I pitched the yeast at 80 deg. This morning the brew belt had taken the temp up to almost 85.

Yeah, I realize now that I'm supposed to wait until after primary fermentation has begun to bring the temperature up.

Should I dump and re-do it tonight?

Thanks,
Adam

EDIT: My initial specific gravity was at ~1.092 after adjusting for temperature.
 
You should be fine. May not follow the exact fermentation schedule as you had hoped, but if you are diligent with your gravity readings you should know when its done. With an ale you have quiite a bit of leeway. I have been up 80 on accident a few times and it still worked out.

A few posts to look at...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/pitched-yeast-when-way-too-hot-82757/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/pitched-yeast-when-wort-too-warm-88967/

RDWHAHB, you will be fine. I am relatively "noob" to the brewing game too, but in my year or so at it I have learned that time will heal most wounds.
 
Thanks for the replies. I used one package of this yeast:

http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_yeaststrain_detail.cfm?ID=130

I can go buy another on my lunch break and pitch it if y'all think I should? How do you know how much to add in relation to OG?

Should I continue to cool it down to ~70?

Thanks!
Adam

p.s. I'll be reading those linked threads and coming back if I have more questions.
 
I would cool it down to 70 for 4 or 5 days and then slowly raise it back up to 80. By lowering the temp you will decrease your risk of fusel alcohol during the major fermentation period. When you raise it back up the higher temps should help keep fermentation going without adding unwanted off flavors.
 
Darn - well, that says I should have three packs if I don't use a starter! I only pitched one pack. I can get to the brew store in a couple hours and buy and add more. I would be pitching these second packs ~12 hours after the first pitch. Is this recommended?

Thanks for all the replies!
Adam
 
Since you most likely caught it before actual fermentation started it will most likely be fine.

Basically you were doing a LARGE starter at 80-85*. The yeasties are busy dividing and growing their colony during that earlier stage. Once fermentation starts THEN you need to keep it in the recommended temp range for sure.

Welcome back to the hobby.
 
Pitching 2 more pack 12 hours later would be fine. You should have a nice crop of yeast going now, but with a 1.092 OG, not a bad idea.
 
Alright, I'm going to take an early lunch and get some more yeast. I already have some bubbles coming out of my blow off tube bucket, but there's not much foam yet.

This is the first time I picked out all the hops and grains myself, vs just getting a boxed recipe. It's been so much more fun.
 
Just pitched two more packets of the same yeast I linked to earlier. Should I agitate the carboy at all? Or anything?

Thanks!
Adam
 
no, it shouldn't be necessary. remember, yeast can take up to three days to really start working

i accidentally pitched at probably at least 90* on thurs night on a big IPA, but its been chugging away ever since the next morning. one of the best things to do after you realize you pitched your yeast too high is to soak a tshirt in cold water, wring it out a bit so it doesn't drip all over the place, and cover your bucket or carboy with it. evaporative cooling works wonders, I was down to 65* on my fermometer and the airlock was happily chugging away on friday morning.
 
Awesome. It's chugging away as we speak, I expect some violent chugging once the second pitch gets past its lag phase.
 
In the future that is too high but for this beer it will ferment just fine in fact faster. Just allow it longer than normal in the primary so the yeast can clean up after themselves because they threw off a lot of off flavors at that temp and without a starter.
 
In the future that is too high but for this beer it will ferment just fine in fact faster. Just allow it longer than normal in the primary so the yeast can clean up after themselves because they threw off a lot of off flavors at that temp and without a starter.

Ok - thanks for the advice. After it has stopped fermenting, I will leave it for an extra few days.
 
Wow. This is some seriously active fermentation! Out of my 3/4" blow off hose I'm getting a huge blurp about every half second. I could break open this carboy, put on some Paul Oakenfold, and throw a foam party.

The ambient temp of the room is in the mid to upper 60s, but the thermometer stuck on my carboy is reading 76. Does fermentation normally raise the temperature that much? Is attempting to keep the temp down something with which I should concern myself with for my next batch? I assume it's fine for this Belgian abbey, which I believe is supposed to ferment at a higher temp.

THANKS!
Adam

EDIT- I just Re-read the earlier replies and found the advice on keeping my brew at 70 for the first 4-5 days. Hopefully it will cool overnight with the window open... It's like ten degrees warmer than the room it's in!
 
So... I would say that you throwing extra yeast in there was probably not a terrible idea, but it was probably a little late. The yeast that were already in there at a temperature like 80 will have already grown and gotten to a place where they will out compete the yeast that is not already in the lag phase.

Typically for a Belgian strain, I would start at 68 and ramp up to 80. The way you did it will likely kick off some higher esters but with Belgian yeast you're not in too much trouble. I would not try to get it down to 70 at this point. Let it keep going. If you cool the yeast that much over night, you can stress and shock the yeast and they could go dormant too soon.

Welcome to the world of brewing. :)
 
OK cool. Thanks again for all the answers. I'm taking a much more pro-active approach this time, and there are sooooo many little nuances I'm not sure about.

Alright - I have this "brew belt", which is a flexible heating element that wraps around a carboy and brings the temp up to 80. When do I want to belt it and ramp it up to this? And for what duration?

From what I have learned in the past 24 hours, reading instead of working, I only had 1/3 enough yeast for my wort, so I'm pretty glad I pitched more 12 hours later. The past two times I brewed my gravity didn't drop much and I had low alcohol content (on an IPA, bleh!). I realize now it was probably because I wasn't using enough yeast.

This is the most active fermentation I've seen to-date, so I'm pretty excited. My OG should actually drop this time.

THANKS!
Adam
 
One pack of yeast will do most brews fine.

A low pitch rate will only slow down the fermentation not keep the FG high. (Unless it is a really big beer and they poop out.) What was the OG on the IPA? A normal IPA should have been fine with one pack. Slow but the FG should be down quite a bit.
 

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