Warm fermentation

[kjm13]

Think I'm ok here but just want another opinion. I brewed an IPA on sunday, first time with this recipe. OG 1.056, with a ton of late hop additions. Yeast was S-05 re-hydrated. I finished up around 4p, set up the blow off tube and stuck it in a low bulit in cabnit I have that fits a car boy perfectly. I didn't even look at it again til this morning. When I did, it was bubbling away nicely, but the car boy thermometer read 76F even though the ambiebnt temp in my house is about 65F. I didn't have time to move it before heading to work, but will move to a cooler spot in the basement when I get home tonight.

Any thoughts on if the first few days in the mid 70's is going to effect my flavors? If so any way to fix it?
thanks.

 

[boydster]

You will almost certainly have some esters at that temperature. 05 is great at 65-68, still good even at 70, but you are outside of clean-ale-fermentation land at 76.

 

[grahamfw]

You are probably fine. If it was in the mid 70's for the first part of the fermentation, you might have to wait a bit for the fusels and esters to fade a bit. Do you have any idea what the temp was when you put it in the carboy?? It could be that it never got down to ideal fermentation temps in the first place.

If you were planning on dry hopping, I'd wait until the beer tastes good enough warm before adding dry hops. If you weren't planning on dry hopping, you might consider it as an option in case the beer takes a while to mellow out any off-flavors that may have happened due to the higher initial fermentation temps.

Of course, the carboy thermometer could be way off and you could be worrying about nothing!

 

[unionrdr]

After a stable FG is reached,leave it for another 3-7 days to clean up fermentation by products & settle out clear or slightly misty. That should clean it up some. I've also seen a bit more clean up during bottle conditioning/carbing time.

 

[yancydc]

I had a couple S-05 brews get too warm, around 75-76, this winter. One batch was horrible and was my first dumper. The second had a ton of esters but is at least drinkable, especially with some aging. The second batch convinced me to buy a fridge to ferment in, so I can stop worrying about it.

I'd move it ASAP, but who knows, it might be just fine. If it's not, give it a some time and hopefully the burn will subside a little bit.

 

[kjm13]

You are probably fine. If it was in the mid 70's for the first part of the fermentation, you might have to wait a bit for the fusels and esters to fade a bit. Do you have any idea what the temp was when you put it in the carboy?? It could be that it never got down to ideal fermentation temps in the first place.

If you were planning on dry hopping, I'd wait until the beer tastes good enough warm before adding dry hops. If you weren't planning on dry hopping, you might consider it as an option in case the beer takes a while to mellow out any off-flavors that may have happened due to the higher initial fermentation temps.

Of course, the carboy thermometer could be way off and you could be worrying about nothing!

Thanks! that's helpful. The wort was 66-68 when I pitched. I usually primary for at least a month to give the yeast plenty of time to clean up flavors. I am planning on dry hopping this, so I'll be sure to taste before I transfer, and get that temp down tonight!
I really need to get a controlled temp fermentation chamber....

 

[boydster]

Take a look at this write-up by Chris White about the life cycle of yeast. The exponential growth phase is when you need to worry about ester development. During that phase, higher temps = faster yeast metabolism = greater ester development.

http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

You will LOVE your beer you make with temp control, it is a game changer.

For 05, I pitch at 62, ferment at 65, and finish at 68.

 

[kjm13]

Take a look at this write-up by Chris White about the life cycle of yeast. The exponential growth phase is when you need to worry about ester development. During that phase, higher temps = faster yeast metabolism = greater ester development.

http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

You will LOVE your beer you make with temp control, it is a game changer.

For 05, I pitch at 62, ferment at 65, and finish at 68.

Pitch at 62... That's a good idea. more wiggle room as the fermantation warms up. Thanks.

 

[BigFloyd]

If I told you it'll be just fine fermenting that warm, that wouldn't be giving you (or other new brewers who may read this thread) accurate information. I've tasted pale done at that temp using US-05 and the funky esters were strong enough that I didn't finish the bottle.

On a more positive note, it may be that your late hop additions will help to overcome the off-flavors. Time will tell.

There's a world of difference between an ale fermented at 64-65*F vs. one done in the mid-70's. Try to get this one cooled down below 70*F now if you can. In the future, get set up to be able to ferment in the 64-65*F range for the first few days. Pitching into wort that's a few degrees cooler than that will make it start off a little slower and help you manage the temps better when it's really active.

You will LOVE your beer you make with temp control, it is a game changer.

For 05, I pitch at 62, ferment at 65, and finish at 68.

That ^^^^ sums it up rather nicely.

 

[kjm13]

If I told you it'll be just fine fermenting that warm, that wouldn't be giving you (or other new brewers who may read this thread) accurate information. I've tasted pale done at that temp using US-05 and the funky esters were strong enough that I didn't finish the bottle.

On a more positive note, it may be that your late hop additions will help to overcome the off-flavors. Time will tell.

There's a world of difference between an ale fermented at 64-65*F vs. one done in the mid-70's. Try to get this one cooled down below 70*F now if you can. In the future, get set up to be able to ferment in the 64-65*F range for the first few days. Pitching into wort that's a few degrees cooler than that will make it start off a little slower and help you manage the temps better when it's really active.

I'll get the temp down ASAP. My plan is to put in a sink 1/2 full of cold water and check the temp every couple of hrs til I'm at 64F, unless someone thinks that's not a good plan or could do more damage by dropping the temp too quick? So this will be (hopefully) only ~48h of too warm fermentation. I totally get doing a full ferment in the mid 70's would completely scew the beer, but I guess I'm hopefull that another month in the mid 60's, and it may clean up whatever esters that were produced in the first 48h.
Thoughts?
Thanks all for all the feedback!

 

[grahamfw]

It may be too little, too late at this point. If the yeast are hard at work, lowering the temp on them may cause them to prematurely fizzle out. Maybe others who have done something similar with US-05 can comment, but I'd leave it be.

 

[BigFloyd]

At this point, I'd want to drop it to around 68-70*F. If you try to take it from 76*F all the way down to 64*F as activity is slowing, the yeast could drop out prematurely and the fermentation stall. Doing it with ice, you can easily overshoot a bit.

 

[MindenMan]

+1 for BigFloyd, his advice is always spot on. I personally have "cold crashed" accidentally by chilling too fast/over chilling, I say cold crashed as my yeast fell out, as didn't want to re start

 

[BigFloyd]

+1 for BigFloyd, his advice is always spot on.

Thanks mano. If my wife and kids would just believe that, life would be grand.

 

[kjm13]

Thanks for the tip! I decided not to cool rapidly. Just moved to basement where the room temp is about 67, and the temp of the concrete floor itself is about 64. Hope that gets me close to 70 in the next 8h or so. Will see. Been scouring the internet for used chest freezers I can convert to fermentation chambers. Any good recommendations there?
Thanks, as always...


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[BigFloyd]

Been scouring the internet for used chest freezers I can convert to fermentation chambers. Any good recommendations there?
Thanks, as always...

Sure. I've fermented in a chest freezer (now my keezer), an upright freezer (now the lagering chamber) and currently in a fridge. All have been precisely controlled by an STC-1000. Whatever you can get cheap on Craigslist that's in good functioning condition is fine. Remember that, after you move a fridge or freezer, let it sit for 6-8 hours before plugging it in to give the compressor oil time to settle.

I personally prefer using the fridge for fermenting and the upright freezer for lagering since you don't have to heft full fermenter vessels up so high like you do using a chest freezer.

 

[kjm13]

I'm only doing 5g batches so lifting into a chest freezer I'm not too worried about at this point. Thanks for the info on the temp control module.

As the fates would have it it is going to SNOW tonight after being 68F this afternoon. (Welcome to New England) so the temp in the basement is also dropping like a rock. Beer is down 3 degrees since I moved it 4 hours ago. Hope the yeast doesn't die off by morning.


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[kjm13]

Beer is about 69F this morning. It's still bubbling away so I guess at least some of the yeast survived the 10 degree temp drop. Now we wait...


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[boydster]

Good to hear! Now keep the beer temp stable so you don't stress the yeast any more. Once it slows down, don't be afraid to let it warm up a couple degrees.

 

[Beer-lord]

I did a Pline that may have gotten to 74 early on in fermentation. I had some fusels but decided to keep it for a long while. Some who drank it didn't mind it, they were mild but I didn't like it.
But, after it sat a few months, it was very drinkable. Not a Pliny but a decent beer. I do think massive amounts of hops helped it survive because I also had a Stone Self Righteous that had fusels and no amount of time would help that one.

This happened both times even with careful chilling. Fermentation got started fast and furious, it was in the summer and by the time I could contain the problem, it was too late. Bottom line, it might be worth conditioning a long while but it might not.

 

[kjm13]

Think my plan is going to be to primary for 6 weeks then dry hop with some extra additions for 2 weeks. Bottle for 2 weeks at room temp then 2 weeks in the fridge before I even try one. I'll


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[unionrdr]

With mine,it's usually 3-3.5 weeks in primary,1 week dry hop,then 3-4 weeks in bottles @ 70F or more,then 1-2 weeks fridge time.