Yeast Temperature and Fermentation

[milo_leon]

Hello all,

Quick question- on Thursday, I pitched my yeast at ~80 degrees because for some reason, my apt ran out of cold water thus the wort chiller was not working as well.

Fermentation didn't start until this morning (~36 hours after pitching) and the temperature sticker said my beer was around 72 degrees.

I am wondering if pitching temperature really matters if the beer starts fermentation around 70 degrees?

 

[duboman]

Hello all,

Quick question- on Thursday, I pitched my yeast at ~80 degrees because for some reason, my apt ran out of cold water thus the wort chiller was not working as well.

Fermentation didn't start until this morning (~36 hours after pitching) and the temperature sticker said my beer was around 72 degrees.

I am wondering if pitching temperature really matters if the beer starts fermentation around 70 degrees?

Unless this is a Saison or Belgian then you are about10 degrees too high and you pitched about 20 degrees to high and will probably develop some off flavors that may or may not condition out.

Optimally you pitch cold and allow to self rise to desired temp which for most ales is mid 60s

 

[milo_leon]

Unless this is a Saison or Belgian then you are about10 degrees too high and you pitched about 20 degrees to high and will probably develop some off flavors that may or may not condition out.

Optimally you pitch cold and allow to self rise to desired temp which for most ales is mid 60s

I know my temps are higher than recommended- I don't have a swamp cooler setup in my apt, and I'm not going to turn the AC down to 60 degrees just for my beer. The last few batches I made were still pretty good. For my next batch, will set up a swamp cooler somewhere.

 

[eltorrente]

Temp has a major impact on beer flavor. It's generally better to just wait until it's cooled before pitching your yeast, than to pitch early when it's so warm.

Of course, it's best to use a kegerator and temp controller - but at least some sort of swamp cooler is better than nothing. Temp is the most critical during the first 24 hours or so of fermentation, then it's o.k. if it rises after that.

You could have even cleared out some space and removed shelves in your refrigerator temporarily and put the carboy in there to help cool it down.

 

[Exportjo]

Unless this is a Saison or Belgian then you are about10 degrees too high and you pitched about 20 degrees to high and will probably develop some off flavors that may or may not condition out.

Optimally you pitch cold and allow to self rise to desired temp which for most ales is mid 60s

I have to agree with duboman, yeast love to be warmed. It is better to pitch at a lower temperature and then raise to your desired fermentation temperature. Here is a nice little read about it written by John Palmer.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter8-1-3.html