Warmer temp and fermentation speed

[brent1769]

This is my first batch of home brew
I got a Brewcraft Kit of Rogue dead guy ale.
It says to ferment for 7-10 days at 60F than secondary for another 7-10
but my house sits around 68F
For the first 2 days It was around 70-74F
than for 2 days it was 68-70F
The Original Gravity was 1.066
and now the gravity is 1.020
the final gravity is supposed to be between 1.014-1.019
I decided to start my secondary fermentation after 4 days because of where the gravity is

Can a higher temp really speed up fermentation that fast?

 

[brettg20]

The directions are wrong...shouldn't have taken it off the yeast


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[flars]

Higher temps can lessen the fermentation time. In brewing beer fast has its drawbacks. Yeasts are designed to develop certain flavors in the beer when fermentation is in the yeasts optimum fermentation range. Even within the optimum temperature range there can be slight nuances in flavor.

Generally fermenting to warm will produce off flavors that will make the beer difficult to drink if not impossible to drink.

It is an accepted procedure to let the beer come to final gravity in the primary. A few extra days in the primary will give the yeast time to clean up natural off flavors such as the diacetyl produced during fermentation.

Secondary fermentation is a misnomer. No fermentation should be expected in the secondary. Racking to a secondary before fermentation is complete will often result in a stalled fermentation. A stalled fermentation will leave fermentable sugars in the beer. Yeast will finish off these sugars during bottle conditioning. This will result in over carbonation or even exploding bottles.

Secondaries are usually used for bulk aging if the aging time will be measured in months. Secondaries are also used for additions like fruit or oak cubes.

Leave your beer in the secondary and hope for the best. Check the gravity in a week for a drop in points.

Look up the optimum fermentation temperature range for the yeast you used. Also check the Brewers Friend pitch rate calculator to see if you pitched the correct amount of yeast for the estimated OG to finish your beer. If you used dry yeast and pitched it without rehydration up to 50% of the cells died on contact with the high sugar content of the wort.

 

[BigFloyd]

Can a higher temp really speed up fermentation that fast?

Yes, but as flars noted, at the risk of mild to nasty off-flavors. I'd agree with the instructions re: temps, but see the secondary as an unnecessary step.

 

[duboman]

+1
It's unfortunate that most kits instruct a new brewer to use the secondary but after all, they simply want you to free up the primary to brew another batch, just go buy another bucket/Carboy


Sent from the Commune

 

[brent1769]

Its still fermenting in secondary right now. and it was Wyeast pacman. I went for the reccomended yeast for the beer and not what the put in the kit.
When i took the gravity i tasted the beer and its flavor and aroma wasn't to far off of what im trying to clone
I hope i didnt screw it up. If fermentation stalls would it be possible to add more yeast to try and kick start fermentation again

 

[kh54s10]

Its still fermenting in secondary right now. and it was Wyeast pacman. I went for the reccomended yeast for the beer and not what the put in the kit.
When i took the gravity i tasted the beer and its flavor and aroma wasn't to far off of what im trying to clone
I hope i didnt screw it up. If fermentation stalls would it be possible to add more yeast to try and kick start fermentation again

In the future wait for a few days after you have reached final gravity if you are going to do a secondary. The yeast create some off flavors during the height of fermentation that they will clean up during this period.

A secondary is really a misnomer. There should be no further fermentation taking place.

Your fermentation has not stalled. 1.020 is often a stopping point when making extract brews due to unfermentables in the extract.

The final gravity range is an estimate. What you actually achieve depends on many variables including the recipe, yeast used and other processes. A point or 2 higher or lower than expected is usually not a problem. What is important is that it is as low as it is going to go.

This problem is most often made when people bottle the beer with too much priming sugar or before the final gravity has been reached.

In most cases it is better to go longer than instruction in kits call for rather than shorter. Or even what the instructions call for.

 

[kombat]

You're not that far off from the predicted final gravity (you're at 1.020, the range is 1.014 to 1.019). Also, recipes including malt extract have a reputation for often finishing high. I'd say your fermentation is as done as it's going to be. I also agree with the comments of the above posters that fermenting too hot (as you did) can result in undesirable flavours, and racking a beer to secondary is completely unnecessary and even detrimental, unless you're adding something like fruit or dry hops, or plan on aging the beer for more than 6 weeks.

Don't get discouraged, you're not making any mistakes we haven't all also made at some point. It's a learning process, and the reward is beer! Next time, just leave it in primary the whole time, and pay closer attention to keeping those fermentation temperatures in the sweet spot (BEER temperature in the low-to-mid 60's, meaning ambient in the high 50's, or employ a swamp cooler [Google it]).

 

[brent1769]

Thanks guys for the input. yeah I agree it is a learning process indeed.
I'm going to let the beer sit for another week "hoping" for the best and that it will at least be drinkable. if it doesn't the taste i was going for oh well as long as i can drink it.
I think ill invest in "The joys of home brewing"

 

[BigFloyd]

T
I think ill invest in "The joys of home brewing"

Better yet, invest in some sort of way to cool your fermentation during the first crucial few days.

Most ale yeast give the best result when the beer temp (not ambient air) during that period stays in the low-mid 60's. Start off by chilling the wort down to 60-62*F before pitching yeast.

 

[brent1769]

So good news. i checked my gravity again its right where I want it and 1.014
Taste is nice and drinkable. being that the beer is room temp and not carbonated. i got lucky with this one.