Temperature Swings: I screwed up, help!

[strangegreenman]

Hi all! I am brewing Yule Gruit (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f78/yule-gruit-213381/), a high-gravity bog myrtle ale that I really love. I wanted to enter this beer into a local competition, but then, disaster! My living room hit 80*F since we were heating with a woodstove, and the WLP028 (scottish ale yeast, ideal temp range 65-70*F) tried to make a break for it! What a mess. The beer then slowly fermented at normal room temperature (60-65*F) for a week. I am worried that my beer is going to be full of off-flavors because of this overly vigorous fermentation. I have not yet checked the beer with a hydrometer or tasted it. The airlock is producing mostly normal smells, but with a faint hint of bananas and sulfur.

I am wondering: if this beer has off-flavors and acetaldehyde, should I pitch another starter of WLP028 and a little bit of light malt extract to try and "clean" the beer? Will that work? Will aging work to clean it? Extending the time in the primary? What works to clean a beer?

Thanks for you help!

 

[eluterio]

Hi all! I am brewing Yule Gruit (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f78/yule-gruit-213381/), a high-gravity bog myrtle ale that I really love. I wanted to enter this beer into a local competition, but then, disaster! My living room hit 80*F since we were heating with a woodstove, and the WLP028 (scottish ale yeast, ideal temp range 65-70*F) tried to make a break for it! What a mess. The beer then slowly fermented at normal room temperature (60-65*F) for a week. I am worried that my beer is going to be full of off-flavors because of this overly vigorous fermentation. I have not yet checked the beer with a hydrometer or tasted it. The airlock is producing mostly normal smells, but with a faint hint of bananas and sulfur.

I am wondering: if this beer has off-flavors and acetaldehyde, should I pitch another starter of WLP028 and a little bit of light malt extract to try and "clean" the beer? Will that work? Will aging work to clean it? Extending the time in the primary? What works to clean a beer?

Thanks for you help!

If you worried about acetalhedhye look at this https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Green_apples

I dont think acetalhedhye will be an issue I think your banana aroma is from the vigorous fermentation however, Im not sure what type of esters are produced by WLP0028. Maybe allowing it to sit will help clean up a bit but if your going to enter this in a comp id do it anyways. At lease you can get some great feed back on what not to do!

Good luck Cheers