Yeast Temp Question - beginner

[vrpatel82]

Hello all,

I had a quick question. I brewed an india pale ale last Monday (5/2/11) and everything went well. Bubbling started by the time I woke up next morning, and seemed like everything was going well. Well, I went out of town this weekend and apparently, a heat wave came through my town. I didn't have the air conditioner going because the temp last week had been mid 60s to low 70s. However, when I came back tonight, the temp in my house was like 88 degrees. I immediately turned the air on, but is this batch of beer going to be ruined? To the best of my knowledge, today was the only really "hot" day of the weekend, but is there anything else I can/should do or am I just going to have to wait and see? What can I expect?

Thanks!

 

[rosier9]

not ruined, just slightly different than it would have been at a controlled temperature... your gonna have to try harder than that to ruin a beer!

 

[Kaz]

Definitely not ruined. The effects of the high temps depends on where the fermentation was when the temp shot up. If the bulk of the growth phase was complete the rise in temp might not have much effect at all. Worst case scenario is you get some fruity esters.

 

[Chefencore]

The same happened to me today (except SWMBO was home but thought that 84 was comfortable?). I had two different batches going - an East India Pale Ale (wyeast 1318 london ale III) that was pitched Saturday evening* and a blonde ale (wyeast 1056 american ale) that was pitched monday evening. The thermometer on my carboy read 80+ so I moved them into the basement.

Fermentation started quickly on the blonde ale, and still going as of this morning - not as strong though. Krausen fell back in due to the move, but I just checked and airlock is slowly bubbling. (side question - krausen had brown layer on the top of white foam - normal?)

*IPA was brewed on Big Brew Day, hauled around -covered and plugged- for 2 hours or so, before I got home and pitched my starter. I had built up my starter an extra 500mL (another brewer wasn’t sure if he could find the strain) but used it all. i knew just from carboy volume and starter activity that I would need a blowoff tube. There seemed to be a lot of yeast in my collection bucket after 36 hrs, but fermentation was still going strong, so I wasn’t too worried (esp. since I overpitched by 30% or so). I decided to switch from blow-off to airlock and the krausen looks wet and slimy on top, kinda like the blowoff did. Is this normal too?

 

[Calder]

Hello all,

I had a quick question. I brewed an india pale ale last Monday (5/2/11) and everything went well. Bubbling started by the time I woke up next morning, and seemed like everything was going well. Well, I went out of town this weekend and apparently, a heat wave came through my town. I didn't have the air conditioner going because the temp last week had been mid 60s to low 70s. However, when I came back tonight, the temp in my house was like 88 degrees. I immediately turned the air on, but is this batch of beer going to be ruined? To the best of my knowledge, today was the only really "hot" day of the weekend, but is there anything else I can/should do or am I just going to have to wait and see? What can I expect?

Thanks!

It had a strong fermentation, and the temp didn't rise for at least 5 days. Most of the ferment was done. Should not be a problem. Might have a little more esters, and might be attenuated a little more than you are used to.