Temperature swing at the worst possible time?

[KookyBrewsky]

I brewed a porter midday on August 6th which I've been keeping at 65F. I woke up today, August 8th, after forgetting to tend to it right before bed and the temperature was at 78F! It was bubbling like when you blow bubbles into your drink using a straw, very vigorous. I used a starter and a stir plate prior to pitching the yeast. It was fermenting pretty quickly after pitching, the fermentation didn't become suddenly vigorous overnight but it was never like this of course.

I can't imagine a worse time for a gigantic temperature swing. I went to bed around 11PM and it was 65F, which means some time overnight it stabilized at 78F, I'm guessing it was at that temperature for a few hours.

This is probably the first time I've ever been concerned with terrible temperature induced off flavors. Sometimes fruity off flavors could even go unnoticed in certain styles, but with a chocolately porter? Ugh...

I know you'll probably say relax and have a homebrew, but this seems pretty bad. What's the likelihood I have to dump it?

 

[Dland]

If you get it back down to temp fairly quickly, it should be fine.

If there are some esters, a choco porter is going to hide a lot more than a lot of styles. Might even be good, a fruity taste is an attribute in some chocolates and cocos.

 

[KookyBrewsky]

If you get it back down to temp fairly quickly, it should be fine.

If there are some esters, a choco porter is going to hide a lot more than a lot of styles. Might even be good, a fruity taste is an attribute in some chocolates and cocos.

As soon as I saw it I got it back down to 70F quickly, it's now at 66F and still on its way to 64F again.

I guess there's another problem, if I like it I have no idea how to replicate it, lol.

 

[Steveruch]

I can't imagine a worse time for a gigantic temperature swing. I went to bed around 11PM and it was 65F, which means some time overnight it stabilized at 78F, I'm guessing it was at that temperature for a few hours.
What's the likelihood I have to dump it?

What size batch?
Are you saying the wort went from 65-78 or the ambient temperature of your fermenting area?

 

[KookyBrewsky]

What size batch?
Are you saying the wort went from 65-78 or the ambient temperature of your fermenting area?

The wort based on my temperature control. I went to bed with it at 64 and woke up to a heart attack inducing 78...

it’s been at 64 ever since and I just upped it to 65. I’m concerned it’s going to taste like vomit or terrible fruits. I’m not sure a temp swing that high is recoverable.

 

[DVCNick]

No idea if it will be decent or not, but I definitely wouldn't dump it yet; I'd just proceed as normal and see what you get.
I'd be more concerned with figuring out why my temp control failed overnight and making sure that doesn't happen again.

 

[KookyBrewsky]

No idea if it will be decent or not, but I definitely wouldn't dump it yet; I'd just proceed as normal and see what you get.
I'd be more concerned with figuring out why my temp control failed overnight and making sure that doesn't happen again.

It's because I use a simple swamp cooler with my coil/pump (I don't have glycol although I'm looking into a DIY). Every night it has been fine and I've brewed this way for months now without this issue. This fermentation simply must've been extremely hot, my efficiency was very high, so high it wasn't even listed on the instruction page that came with the kit.

I guess a lesson I will have to take into account so long as I don't upgrade to glycol before the next batch.

 

[KookyBrewsky]

any other experiential input on whether it's going to be abysmal with a temp swing to 78F overnight, just 1.5-2 days after pitching yeast?

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Should be OK. Just remember active fermentation will always raise the temp. This is why a prior posted asked about ambient temp. Just because our fermenation chamber, basement, etc is the desired temp doesn't mean the fermentation is at the desired temp.

 

[jschein]

Likely a chocolately , fruity fusel bomb, hipsters will love it and pay good money for it. maybe won’t taste like vomit can’t tell from here. RDWHHB

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

IMO, it was caught early enough to avoid the fruity fusel bomb, especially in a Porter.

 

[jschein]

IMO, it was caught early enough to avoid the fruity fusel bomb, especially in a Porter.

Yeah only joking, sometimes we need to sit back, relax and see how we can prevent this from happening again. Things fail sometimes that we can’t control

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Yeah only joking, sometimes we need to sit back, relax and see how we can prevent this from happening again. Things fail sometimes that we can’t control

Hear, hear. Seems to apply to each brew day. Nothing, at least in my experience, goes as planned.

 

[KookyBrewsky]

The temperature was only at that level for... I don't know, 6 hours absolutely maximum. More realistically only a couple.

I went to bed, ambient temp 74F, fermentation temp was 65F using my Spike TC-100. I woke up early and fermentation temp was 78F, I got it down to 65F in less than 10 minutes since it is only a 5 gallon batch.

I tried a sample yesterday since fermentation slowed and it was still too yeasty. My sampling valve is not low enough due to it being a half batch, so that was my only shot at a sample.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Yes, was still too yeasty as primary fermenation isn't finished.