Pitched too hot - ruined or salvageable?

[TK1]

Decided to do a brew this afternoon, and despite the heat all went well. NZ Pale Ale (Chur kit for the Grainfather), using American West Coast yeast.Yeast was hydrating at 30-35 degrees as per the packet instructions.

All went well during the day, but long story short something went wrong after chilling and it heated up again (not sure if the Grainfather was still heating even though it was oof, or it just warmed up one pump was off). So ended up pitching the yeast, but when I put the probe on it in the fridge, it was reading at 40 degrees initially, and still going down into the 20's. Fermentation temp should be 19 degrees for the yeast.

So, is it ruined, or will getting it down fairly quickly be OK? Likely to kill the yeast or produce off flavours? Anything I can do except wait it out and see what happens?

Thanks - would hate to dump the lot but feel I've wasted a brew day and load of ingredients (and water)!

 

[Yob]

Keep going, if it was a short period of time at high temp, chances are you'll get away with it. Allow time for a good long clean-up at the end of ferment though

 

[TK1]

Thanks Yob.

Just checked, an hour or so later and it's still at 30 degrees, and the fridge is working flat out trying to cool it down.

Hopefully down another 10 degrees in the next hour and then it will settle down.

I can leave it a couple of weeks so will see how it goes.

 

[Diesel80]

I often pitch at about 25-30 for ale yeast and have the fridge bring it down. So long as you get it down within the first 4 to 8 hours you will probably know no difference.

I can't get away with 40 degs as I have 2x fermenters in the fridge when i do it. Drops reliably at 3/deg/hr with.
Edit: is that west coast yeast BRY-97?

Cheers,
D80

 

[loco88]

I've done roughly the same thing (I think it was 32-35; not sure how quickly it cooled) because I was in a rush, I ended up with that real fusel alcohol flavour/feel which I attributed to the high temps. Definitely give it plenty of time to clean up, maybe even age it a bit to let it mellow.

 

[Jack of all biers]

35C maybe, but 40C? I'd be thinking about pitching another yeast packet if you have one floating about. 40C seems a little high for the little fellas to remain viable/alive.

If you don't have a spare yeast packet, tomorrow go and buy one and then have a look at what your brew is doing. Fermenting okay, keep your spare yeast packet for the next brew. Not fermenting, pitch the spare and you have probably saved your brew from not fermenting/tasting somewhat dodgy.

EDIT - just saw this was posted yesterday. Given you pitched at a high temp, if it hasn't started showing signs of fermentation by this evening, I'd be getting that yeast and pitching tomorrow. Besides it can never hurt to have spare yeast in the fridge.

2nd EDIT - Yob, as stated above, can't hurt to have a spare anyway.

 

[Yob]

35C maybe, but 40C? I'd be thinking about pitching another yeast packet if you have one floating about. 40C seems a little high for the little fellas to remain viable/alive.

If you don't have a spare yeast packet, tomorrow go and buy one and then have a look at what your brew is doing. Fermenting okay, keep your spare yeast packet for the next brew. Not fermenting, pitch the spare and you have probably saved your brew from not fermenting/tasting somewhat dodgy.

wouldnt you have a look at what the beer is doing before rushing out to buy more yeast?

 

[Diesel80]

40 deg wont kill them.
If it cooled to 20 in < 3/4 hours then beer will be fine.

Ride it out!

Cheers,
D80

 

[TK1]

Hi,

Thanks all for the advice (and encouragement to keep it going).

I got it down to 19-20 degrees overnight (did have the fridge off for a few hours as it's old and was working hard initially, but cool in fridge and back on in the morning. Steady at around 19 degrees now.

I had another West Coast yeast so threw it in. When I opened the fermenter I noticed there was some krausen on top so original yeast was doing something, but the additional packet will hopefully make up for any loss and help avoid some off flavours from stress. I'll leave it in there for a couple of weeks and then let it sit for a while in the bottles.

Thanks - fingers crossed I'll have something drinkable in a couple of months or so! Better make another batch to keep me going until it's ready...

 

[H@wkeye!]

Hijacking thread...

Did a similar thing, cooled most of wart down nicely, then the cooler got turned off or something as hast 2-3 L were being added to fermenter.

Added yeast as normal, but after a couple of hours realised the temp was like 32 or so. Guessing it was added at around 34 or so. Temp is now down to 22 (best i can expect sadly - don't have a fridge for it yet). WiIll this initial high temp affect ferment?

I do have another batch of yeast, but it's an el cheap oh from an kit.

 

[TK1]

Mine should be ready to bottle this weekend, and seems to smell/taste OK now.

Ale yeast should be OK pitching at 30-35 deg (ones I've used have said so) but if the other packet you have is the same type you may want to pitch it so the initial lot isn't stressed. I did this (once it was down into the low 20's, just sprinkled it on) and it really kicked up the fermentation. As far as I can tell there's no off flavours. So if you're not getting much fermentation chuck it in.

Just my completely inexpert opinion, since it seems to have worked for me - will know in a few weeks when I crack one open though!

 

[Yob]

will know in a few weeks the morning after I crack one open though!

FTFY