To pitch or not to pitch?

[samie85]

I have a wort that I brewed very late Saturday/early Sunday and still haven't pitched the yeast. I'm going for an Oktoberfest style ale as I'm fermenting with Nottingham.

I was counting on my basement being around 60F, but with the recent heat spell and our old Central AC unit, the basement is now right around 70F.

That leads me to assume I'd get fermentation temps as high as 75F, if not higher, which is the main reason I haven't pitched the yeast yet. I'm trying to do a modified swamp cooler rig (just cool water no frozen water bottles, as the vessel I'm putting my bucket in isnt big enought o put water bottles in), but I'm having a hard time getting the wort temp below 70F.

Should I continue to hold off until we get the AC working better, or just pitch it and try to keep it as cool as possible and hope for the best?

 

[MalFet]

You really don't want to wait that long. With careful sanitation, a bit of time is okay, but if you are looking at multiple days the chance of letting an infection run wild are too high. For a lager-style ale 75 is very high, but hot-fermented is better than infected.

 

[lincoln]

First what MalFet said.

second, depending on what your humidity is where you live, don't underestimate a tub of water and a black tee shirt w/ a fan. I have a little 6" desk fan that i use and then open the window at night to get a fresh shot of cool air.

EDIT: thinking more about it, it really depend on your location, regardless you should pitch the yeast. Arnold: "DO IT! DO IT NOW!"

 

[samie85]

Thanks everybody. I'll go ahead and pitch it tonight when I get home from work. I'll definetely try the fan out and hopefully that'll cool it down enough.

 

[lincoln]

reading my post again, to be clear, the tee shirt goes over the carboy and will wick up moisture from the tub for the fan to blow on. never tried it with a bucket as i don't use them.

 

[beerandloathinginaustin]

I guess if you wanted to play it safe infection-wise you could bring the wort back to a boil. Not sure what impact that would end up having on IBUs, flavor, etc but could be worth looking into.