Pitching Yeast At A Temp Too High..... Oops! Help

[kierent]

Hi everyone.
I've just done this brew http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...amp;hl=extracts (an extract brew) and I just wasn't thinking when I pitched the yeast. Once I'd thrown in the rehydrated yeast I turned my fermenter around and saw that it was up around 28deg! I'm using S-05 yeast which says keep it between 15-24deg and I have the fermenting fridge set to ferment at about 17deg, so it will cool down over the next few hours.

My question is.... is there any chance the yeast will have survived? I'm thinking if it's bubbling by tomorrow then I can probably breathe easy. But if it's not, my other question is can I salvage it by adding another batch of S-05 at the correct temperature? I just wasn't sure about it fermenting for a week with dead yeast in it? It's a $50 brew, so I'd really like to not have to throw it out. I guess i'll know in tomorrow if I have fermentation, but if it's not bubbling in a couple of days It would be good to be able to salvage it.

Any ideas?
Thanks

 

[tommygun]

28 won't be too high and the yeast will still be alive. My pop still ferments into the 30s no matter how many times i've told him!

Just get the temps down to the desired to keep the characteristics of the beer right.

I think wyeast even say its possible to start warm and cool to desired as it gets the yeast moving quickly to start off with.

I'm some will say this is not good for yeast health and a variety of reasons and I would agree.

Should be fine mate just don't cool it too quickly as it may shock the yeasties, do it over at least a few hours.

:icon_cheers:

thomas

 

[Pollux]

I've done that before, normally with my no-chill AG brews this summer...

The cube rarely gets below 26+ and as my temp control is ice bottles in a dead fridge I tend to dump the 26deg wort and the yeast into the fermenter, seal it up and quickly surround it with ice bottles.

Normally the next morning the yeast is now churning along nicely, the wort has dropped down to the high teens and everyone is happy.

 

[benno1973]

As tommygun said, 28C won't kill your yeast. US-05 is a pretty forgiving yeast, and while pitching at warmer temps isn't ideal, there isn't going to be much problem if the temp of the wort gets down to 18/20C in the first few hours. Sometimes (out of necessity) I've had to pitch warm and there's been no problems with it. Some people suggest pitching warm during the growth phase and then dropping the temperature during the bulk of the ferment, although this can be bad for some yeast, as they react to the cooling conditions and drop out to go dormant. Anyway, long and the short is it will be fine. If ever you had killed your yeast though, you could pitch another pack.

 

[rclemmett]

Some people suggest pitching warm during the growth phase and then dropping the temperature during the bulk of the ferment, although this can be bad for some yeast, as they react to the cooling conditions and drop out to go dormant.

I find that this method works for me... I will usually pitch around 26-28C and put straight into fermenting fridge.

Fermentis instructions say to rehydrate at 27C plus or minus 3C... You will be fine.

However, it is important to get the yeast within 10C of the wort to avoid sending it into shock, ie don't pull a sachet out of the fridge and dump it into 28C wort.

 

[kierent]

Great, thanks for that! Ok one more question though, in an attempt to bring it down a bit I put ice in, which brought the volume up from 23L to about 24 1/2 L. I'm thinking this won't affect the flavour immensely, maybe just make it taste slightly weaker than the desired product. Any thoughts? Anyone ever made a brew with a litre too much?

 

[cliffo]

Should be fine provided it doesn't get an infection - was the water you used to make the ice boiled?

Wouldn't stress too much at any rate it will just a little bit weaker on the alcohol % and a bit thinner to the taste.

cliffo

 

[manticle]

An extra litre will be nothing.

Next time if adding ice, try and use a sanitised plastic container with boiled cooled water but I reckon you'll be fine.

Yeast can survive temperatures somewhere in the region of ~50 degrees from memory. It's just that higher temps produce unwanted flavours. While it's better to pitch at preferred ferment temp, if you get the temp down quickly it should probably be fine. The crucial part is when the yeast actually starts to work (beginning of primary ferment).

 

[kierent]

Thanks heaps for all that everyone should be fine by the sounds of things. The ice was just straight from the freezer, not sanitised but hopefully it'll be ok

 

[brotom7]

I pitched at 40C once, it was 4am in morning leaving for 3 weeks of travel and the taxi at the door so I had no other choice, thought the fridge would have brought it down lower over night but it didn't. So pitched anyway.
It was a Kolsch and it fermented out fine so the yeast obviously survived, it doesn't taste very well though, I'm too cheap to through them out so I'm fighting through them one now and then.
They're not offensively bad tasting but nowhere near how my Kolsch normally comes out, crisp and clean.