paulster2626
Well-Known Member
So - I brewed a lager over the fall/winter in the cold cellar. Turned out fantastic. It's the "friend favourite" when people come over it. Just ran out of it, so I need more.
Brewed up a fresh batch and tossed in the yeast on the 27th and had it down in the basement/cold room at about 55-60F to start fermenting. I agree it's really 'on the verge' and not my ideal fermenting temp, but figured it would be okay for primary. Wasn't sure what I'd do for lagering, but hopefully by then a ferm. chamber will be operational.
Anyway, it got super hot out, and the fans to the house kicked in to spread the air around. Temp in the basement got up to 70+, and the friggin' lid blew off the fermenter on the 30th. I would say that it was fermenting in a hot temperature for somewhere between 18-36 hours. I stuck it in a cooler immediately, filled with water, and have been rotating 4x 2L ice blocks every day keeping the temp at 40-45F.
My concern is the smell coming from this thing. It smells like a pile of bad fruit. What I need to know from you 'experts' is whether or not I should continue with this amount of effort or not. My plan was to keep those ice blocks rotating for another couple of weeks in the primary, then maybe rack it to 2 smaller vessels that I may be able to squeeze in to the keezer for lagering. Will the smell clean itself up a bit? I'm not expecting liquid gold here anymore, but I need some reassurance that my efforts will be rewarded enough to continue.
Ideally someone will say "yeah I had a lager that smelled like a pile of compost before - it turned out great!". And yes, I know trying to lager in the summer without a proper way to cool it down is stupid. This won't happen again, I promise!
Brewed up a fresh batch and tossed in the yeast on the 27th and had it down in the basement/cold room at about 55-60F to start fermenting. I agree it's really 'on the verge' and not my ideal fermenting temp, but figured it would be okay for primary. Wasn't sure what I'd do for lagering, but hopefully by then a ferm. chamber will be operational.
Anyway, it got super hot out, and the fans to the house kicked in to spread the air around. Temp in the basement got up to 70+, and the friggin' lid blew off the fermenter on the 30th. I would say that it was fermenting in a hot temperature for somewhere between 18-36 hours. I stuck it in a cooler immediately, filled with water, and have been rotating 4x 2L ice blocks every day keeping the temp at 40-45F.
My concern is the smell coming from this thing. It smells like a pile of bad fruit. What I need to know from you 'experts' is whether or not I should continue with this amount of effort or not. My plan was to keep those ice blocks rotating for another couple of weeks in the primary, then maybe rack it to 2 smaller vessels that I may be able to squeeze in to the keezer for lagering. Will the smell clean itself up a bit? I'm not expecting liquid gold here anymore, but I need some reassurance that my efforts will be rewarded enough to continue.
Ideally someone will say "yeah I had a lager that smelled like a pile of compost before - it turned out great!". And yes, I know trying to lager in the summer without a proper way to cool it down is stupid. This won't happen again, I promise!
