Yeast Question

[edost]

Okay - so I made the Christmas Ale last night and since the recipe told me to boil more water than I ever had in the past, it took a LOT longer for the wort to cool.

At about 11 PM last night I had to go to bed and I thought I should pitch the yeast anyway. I'd say it was around 80 and the recipe said it should be at 70. The question now is did I kill my yeast and should I order some more yeast and repitch it?

I looked this morning and so far no activity on the airlock. I'll check again tonight, but I'd like to order the yeast as soon as possible so I can get it going if I need to do that.

I have plenty of time on this, so I want to make it right. I'd rather not wait 6 months and find out I got a crap batch because of this.

Thanks for your help folks.

Eric

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

80 may be a bit high, but you should be okay. It may take a little longer to get the fermentation going but it'll go.
Have a brew and relax...

 

[BeanPot Brewery]

80 could go either way. The real question is how come you couldn't cool the wort quickly? Even if you boil three or four gallons, putting the pot in a nice ice bath should have cooled the wort fairly quickly.

 

[edost]

It's a great question because I never had a wort stay this hot this long. I did my normal ice bath but it didn't seem to do enough. I think the problem was I normally do an ice bath for 1.5 - 2.5 gallon boils. This was a gallon more and I still did the same time in the ice bath. Of course by the time I realized it was way too hot my gf had helped and cleaned out the ice

This just helped reinforce the fact that I want a wort chiller of some sort.

 

[edost]

Just to follow up on this.. forgot I didn't yet. You're right Cheyco. It was bubbling that day when I got home. Letting it go until the end of the week and then I'll rack it to the secondary and let it sit for 6 weeks.

Thanks again.

 

[Spyk'd]

Buy or make a wort chiller. Ice sucks and will always make a good brew day bad if you run out or the pot takes more that day. Just make sure the new wort chiller will handle your needs today as well as tomorrow!

 

[edost]

Buy or make a wort chiller. Ice sucks and will always make a good brew day bad if you run out or the pot takes more that day. Just make sure the new wort chiller will handle your needs today as well as tomorrow!

Already on the list Looks like I'll be getting one for my bday, so that won't suck.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

Buy or make a wort chiller. Ice sucks and will always make a good brew day bad if you run out or the pot takes more that day. Just make sure the new wort chiller will handle your needs today as well as tomorrow!

We get an awful lot of posts/threads about this. IMHO a chiller should be part of starter kits, but I realize that this would not be cost effective.

 

[Shambolic]

We get an awful lot of posts/threads about this. IMHO a chiller should be part of starter kits, but I realize that this would not be cost effective.

I find it quite bizarre that people consider them indispensable, as I have never used one, and never had a problem...

What's so great about getting your wort cool really quickly? Mine is always ready to pitch within an hour of finishing the boil, and I don't even use ice - just a bath of cold water.

 

[Ontarget]

I concur. I have'nt HB in a few years and just recently started, so I may be stepping outside of my box.
However, I never used a WC previously, and am not using one now. I have never brewed bad beer, and alothough it is inevitable that sooner or later I will, I don't forecast the wort pre-pitch temp to be the culprit.
I don't intend to come off as a smart-a$$, please forgive me if I do, but is it really that necessary?
R/Cam

 

[Ivan Lendl]

You only really need one for all grain, or full boils where you have to cool 5+ gallons of wort. The benefits to quick cooling are: 1)cold break (less chill haze in final product), 2)quicker pitching of yeast (once the wort drops below a certain temp, and untill the yeast is in there its open game for nasties to get a foothold and out produce the yeast thus creating off flavors and/or ruining the beer), lastley and this is really for all grain, by the time you turn the kettle off youve been brewing a good 5-8 hours, and the difference between waiting 25 min or 1 hour before you pitch and go to bed is huge...