Uh oh! How bad is this? (temp. issues!)

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03rangerxlt

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Location
marietta
RECIPE:
Shoultz-Meyer Brewery Mow the Yard
Makes 5 Gallons @ 75% Efficiency

Briess Pilsen Light LME Unhopped 5 lbs, 0 oz
Rice Syrup Solids 1 lbs, 0 oz
Williamette Pellets 1 oz @ 60 mins
Williamette Pellets 1 oz @ 7 mins
Danstar Nottingham Ale Yeast 1 ea

Recipe Specifications.
og 1.042 - 1.055

fg 1.006 - 1.012

ibu 15 - 20

srm 3 - 5

abv 4.20 - 5.60

Recipe Notes
Boil for 60 minutes. Add DME and Rice Syrup Solids with 20 minutes left in the boil. Ferment at 65F.

PROBLEM:
Temperatures have been a little high around here in Georgia, and after a fitful day of sleeping (I work nights, gimme a break!), I went into the spare bathroom to check on the creme ale that is supposed to be fermenting at 65F. The sticker on the side of the carboy says 73F, and the ambient temperature in the room is 70F. I've taken the cardboard box cover off the carboy (that blocks light) and replaced it with wet t-shirts, to help wick away some of the heat. There still apears to be some activity in the airlock, but the beer looks kinda dead. I gently shook it, hoping that doing so will wake up the yeast.

So, how bad of an issue is this temperature problem? How do you guys manage the temperatures of your brews? I am concerned with the hot summer coming up, that it will be damn impossible to maintain good brewing temperatures in our house. I am really hoping this brew isn't a write off! This is an important batch! We are taking this batch to Savannah with us in April for our wedding!
 
You might get some off flavors from it, that is at the upper limit of that yeast. It will still make beer though. When beer ferments, it generates heat. I cool my wort to 60º and the closet I keep it in ranges between 58º - 60º and it usually gets itself up to 65 or so. For keeping the temps cool, use the search function for "Swamp Cooler" or if you want to go big, you can search "Son of Fermentation Chamber". Hope that helps.

Cheers :mug:
 
It's probably OK. I had a double IPA that went a little crazy with the fusel alcohols at those temps, so you could get some off tastes like that, but this beer doesn't have nearly the fermentables as my IPA did.

It's not a write off though!

Get a chest freezer and a 2 way temp controller for summer time. You'll definitely have problems this summer in Georgia if you already are. Or plan on doing a lot of attending to your fermentors with damp towels and ice water baths.
 
Ugh. I'm still worring about this batch of beer. It turns out the bathroom in the basement is staying consistantly mild, so I moved the carboy down there, and I got the tempurature back in a comfortable range. There seems to be little to no airlock activity, and the beer doesn't look like its doing anything. Too much tempurature difference? Too much sloshing when I carried it downstairs? Is all lost!?!?!
 
Have you had any Krausen? How many days has it been since you pitched the yeast?

70 degrees is not going to kill the yeast. It may give off some fruity flavors you might not like but you will still get beer.

Temperature control is key for getting a good tasting beer, but its not going to make or break it unless you are in the extremes of the yeast temp range.
 
The higher temperature probably sped up fermentation. Gravity check to confirm. Maybe going to a secondary to get it off the sped up yeast?
 
The yeast certainly isn't dead when it ferments warm (hell most yeast prefers high temps), but it might be throwing off some esters at that point. Also, a warm ferment will wrap up much faster than a slower one. Personally, I don't like Nottingham's profile, particularly when it ferments warm but YMMV.

As far as temperature control goes, I had to re-purpose my old college refrigerator as a fermentation chamber to brew during the summer months as I can only cool my house to 78 degrees. That being said, any form of ice bath will get the job done with a little bit of work.
 
I'll take a gravity reading tomorrow. There is no krausen right now. The beer just looks kinda flat and dead. I'll check back in tomorrow.
 
I'll take a gravity reading tomorrow. There is no krausen right now. The beer just looks kinda flat and dead. I'll check back in tomorrow.

Ahh, it should be fine! Nottingham is a good versatile yeast and worst case scenario is you will have some minor fusel alcohols to deal with.

Give it at least 3 weeks in the fermentor then bottle/keg!

(the beer is supposed to be flat at this point) If active fermentation is complete you will have little to no airlock activity however airlock activity does not indicate fermentation either. Take a gravity in 3 weeks and I bet you will be surprised!
 
I have done a bunch of batches at 75F had no way to get the temperature lower. after about two weeks in the bottle, there were some off flavours but they all pretty much mellowed out after about a month in the bottle
 
RECIPE:
So, how bad of an issue is this temperature problem? How do you guys manage the temperatures of your brews? I am concerned with the hot summer coming up, that it will be damn impossible to maintain good brewing temperatures in our house. I am really hoping this brew isn't a write off! This is an important batch! We are taking this batch to Savannah with us in April for our wedding!

I hate to be the opposite, but this is a cream ale, a lighter beer. So any off flavors, especially with temperature issues, will shine through. Your beer will be drinkable, and still might be great, but do not be discouraged if it isn't. Its by no means dumpable and will be a learning experience for the off flavors you will experience.

The first beer I brewed was a blond, in July, in a room with no AC, and prolly fermented around 80ish. It was horrible, but I still drank all of it.

For fermentation temperature control, I use a chest freezer, that is constantly at what ever temperature I choose. I use 1272 for 75% of my brews and ferment at 63-64, which gives it a nice clean fermentation. I tried all kind of ways and this so far is the best and easiest.
 
Whoa, I feel much better about the beer today. There was added pressure on this, our second ever batch of beer, after how much our friends loved our first (and very successful!) attempt!

So today I took a gravity reading, and it was around 1.012 to 1.014. The final gravity on this recipe is supposed to be somewhere between 1.006 to 1.012. I also smelled and tasted the sample I drew for the reading. It smelled pretty good, like a flat beer. It also tasted pretty good for a flat beer. It had a really nice light amber color too. I am not so worried anymore, and I'm getting excited about bottling this!

I wonder how much longer it needs to sit before we bottle it. How does a week from this Saturday sound? That will be exactly 4 weeks in the fermenter, and I will be off from work and able to actually spend the time putting it in bottles.
 
If its done in the fermenter, is it ok to let it sit for another week until I can bottle it? If so, can it be stored in the conditions it is currently in right now, in a cool dark room?
 
Yeah,one more week will be fine. It may even go down another point or two. But it should settle out more as well,giving you a cleaner beer going into the bottling bucket.
 
As for leaving it in the bucket longer, my biggest concern would be your wedding date. The standard is 3 weeks at 70F in the bottle for carbonation for a typical Ale- which this looks like it is. Big beers and lagering takes longer.

If your wedding is within 3 weeks, bottle this weekend. I'd bottle this weekend if I wanted it in 4 weeks, just in case the carbing is slow. Some will carb in as little as 1 to 2 weeks, but at least 3 weeks is recommended before checking for any carb issues. That is if you post to the boards 'my carb is bad and I bottled 2 weeks ago' someone will tell you "come back next week and we'll talk"
 
If we bottle a week from today (which allows for 4 weeks total in the fermenter) on Satruday March 17th, that will allow us to still have 6 weeks for carbing. Wedding isn't until the very end of April (28th).

Thanks for the good advice here guys, by the way. It has helped me feel better about this brew.
 
You can always "dry hop" with some vanilla beans for a vanilla cream ale if you have some off flavors.
 
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