Too much yeast at to high temperature with probably not enough oxygenation.

[meaulnes]

Hi,

I am new to beer brewing and I just started yesterday with my first kit (4 liters) . I was a bit anxious about cleanliness and temperature control and it can explain why I accumulated at least 3 mistakes:

-1. I didn't wait the necessary time to allow the wort to cool down. My sink is a bit small and I could not brass the water around the pot. The temperature was around 32°C (89°F and was decreasing very slowly. Thus I transferred its content in the fermenter thinking I could bring the temperature down afterwards.

- 2. I didn't read the recipe in the kit with enough care and pitched a full bag of yeast (the recipe was saying half a bag while the bag itself was saying 1 bag for 20 to 30*liters). This means that I probably added 4 ou 5 times the necessary amount of yeast.

- 3. I completely forgot my first resolution and didn't cool the fermenter before pitching.

As a result of this 3 mistakes (may be 4 as reading more about fermentation afterward, I think I didn't shake the fermenter for oxygenation sufficiently) , here is what happened:

The fermentation process started quasi immediately. One hour after I had a bubble frequency of around 2 per second. Today, the fermentation is calming down as after 24 hours, I only have one bubble every 2 or 3 second.
The content in the fermenter is like coffee with milk (creamy) and the foam over the liquid has subsided. The temperature in the room where the fermenter is, is around 19°C (66°F).

My questions are:
1. Is my beer lost?
2. If not, what should I do? The recipe recommends to wait for 3 weeks before bottling. Should I wait this time long?
Thank you for advice.

 

[Sadu]

Your beer definitely isn't lost. You made a couple of minor mistakes and beer is forgiving stuff.

So ideally you would chill to 20c before adding yeast, but 32c isn't going to kill the yeast. Because you pitched the yeast warm, and lots of it, the yeast got started with gusto.

What matters is how quickly you got it down to 20c from here. If it took an hour or 2 to get it from 32c down to 20c then I wouldn't expect any issues. If it took 12+ hours, then maybe you are going to get some unwanted flavours.

Perhaps a bigger issue is the temperature in the room. If the room is 19c then the yeast will be generating their own heat and it might be 22ish inside the fermentor, given they are so active. This is getting a bit high so I'd suggest reading up on swamp coolers to bring it down a little. This is quite important for the first 5 days or so.

Also oxygenating the wort is a good thing to do - I always do it, but many brewers don't and still make good beer. I think if you underpitched and didn't oxygenate you might be in trouble, but you overpitched so the oxygen becomes less important.

Bottom line, I think you'll be fine, wait it out, and do something about your fermentation temperature if you can.

Also 2-3 weeks before bottling is a good timeframe. Since this is your first time you'll be in a hurry so I would suggest 2 weeks (providing the hydrometer says FG has been stable for 3 days).

 

[brew1good]

1. No your beer is not lost. Grab a home brew and chill.
2. I wait usually 2 weeks before bottling. But 3 weeks is good too.
3. You cant use too much yeast... well you can but it wont be a problem your beer will still taste like beer.
4. Oxygenating the wort is not necessary. It healps the yeast to develope stronger membrane's i think. And to ferment quicker.

What just happened, becous off the "high" wort temperature your yeast finished early. Until the wort is not burning hot you didn't kill the yeast. (But next time wait till the wort in the 20C range is.) Your beer will be fine. Probably you will have a litle eastery "off flavour".
Never trust the airlock. Gravity reading! And patience my friend is the homebrewer best weapon.

What kind of beer it is?

Sorry for bad english

Cheers

 

[meaulnes]

Thank you . Good to know everything is not lost! I am going to look at how to lower the temperature a bit.

The kit is this one https://www.saveur-biere.com/en/beer-kit/7117-beer-kit-brew-your-own-pils.html

 

[brew1good]

Pilsner? Well it's a difficult stye... difficult to do right. It needs a cool temperature to ferment... if it's came realy a pilsner yeast and not some clean fermenting ale strain. I agree cool it down at least too 13C. You maby won't like how it taste becouse of the high pitching temp and fermentation temp. You may have too much off flavors.

I dont like these kits becouse you dont know what's in it.... what yeast strain... what.kinde of malt etc. Its not bad for learn how to brew but if you research a bit you can brew relatively good beers.

 

[RPh_Guy]

It has Hallertau & Saaz hops; can't go wrong!

It probably came with a yeast that does fine at room temperature (these are beginner kits, after all).

Happy homebrewing!

 

[meaulnes]

It has Hallertau & Saaz hops; can't go wrong!

It probably came with a yeast that does fine at room temperature (these are beginner kits, after all).

Happy homebrewing!

To be accurate, the yeast is Safbrew T-58 temp. range 12°C - 25°C ideally 15°C - 20°C.

 

[brew1good]

T-58? Haha. Expect a lot of bublegum flavour. Its an ale. Don't need to chill. Your beer will be fine!

 

[oylerck]

Looks more like a Belgian blonde ale to me. I wonder what the grain in it is.

 

[brew1good]

Looks more like a Belgian blonde ale to me. I wonder what the grain in it is.

Well it won't be a pils that's for sure.
If it's mad with pils malt maybe something like this

https://beerandbrewing.com/warped-tripel-recipe/

 

[meaulnes]

Looks more like a Belgian blonde ale to me. I wonder what the grain in it is.

Pilsen 2RP Malt 3.5 EBC

 

[oylerck]

Pilsen 2RP Malt 3.5 EBC

Wow I was actually planning on brewing something like this with magnum and saaz. I've got the pils plus the t- 58 on hand as well. Maybe some biscuit malt and 1-2lbs cane sugar and make it a Belgian tripel.