Temp Vs Time for adding yeast

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NuggetSA

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After I had to wait three hours to get my brew temp down before adding the yeast (no fridge yet, working on it...) it occurred to me that I've no idea which is worse - adding the yeast when the temp is >20 degrees or leaving it for several hours to let it cool down. Is there a limit to how long you guys would leave it?

I used coldish filtered water and had made up some ice blocks but after adding my water it was still up around 28 degrees (warm day). Using the supplied Coopers "European Lager" yeast from a Pale Ale kit.
 
What volume are you cooling? You can just go bigger on the iceblock process...if you're doing a partial volume boil, then freeze 2l of boiled water in a sanitised ice cream container. I actually did this recently with about 3l in a 4l ice cream container, and had to remove the remaining chunk of ice when the temp dropped very quickly into the high teens. I put my pot (~9 litres) into a cold water bath to get a quick temp knock down, left it 10 mins, then replaced the water and added the ice during the 2nd bath.

Previously i'd used shop ice in the bath water itself, but find that adding my own ice directly in the pot to be much faster...and of course it's free.
 
[face slap] It never occurred to me to cool the pot before adding it to the fermenter, I cooled the whole damn thing (19lt)

Have I buggered it by waiting that long?
 
Certainly the risk of infection is increased the longer you leave it cooling, before pitching your yeast and sealing it up. But there's no way to tell if it's 'buggered' yet...infection will take a while to take hold. It's a very low % chance anything got into it....you'll know in a few days! Do a google image search for "infected home brew" for some frightening pics on what it looks like....and apparently there's NO mistaking the taste! But hopefully you're ok....did you leave the fermenter covered while it was cooling?
 
I'd rather pitch later and cooler (and take the small risk of infection), than pitch warm and have guaranteed crap beer :)
 
I had the sanitised lid partly screwed on and the airlock in so hopefully all okay...

Those are some bloody hideous pictures, what a waste of beer! Amazingly I've never had an infected brew despite not having been overly careful in the past.

Feeling better about it, cheers guys :)
 
I have left the wort for 24 hrs before
pitching. The thing is to be clean. You can get a infection any time
in the fermenting process. Sterilise well and you can wait to pitch.
I do a 2 way process on mine. 1. 2 litrres boiling water. Lid on and
roll around to touch all surfaces. 2. Starsan it. Easy as.



Cheers
 
Nugget,

I've been through the same stress as you till I discovered the Slow-Chill and No-Chill methods of cooling. As I can't be bothered putting mine in an air tight container I do the Slow-Chill method in the kettle. Many will disagree but there are many top brewers also doing this. Once I've done my boil I cover my kettle with glad wrap and put the lid back on. I also give it a squirt of starsan around the pot edge and put the lid on and leave for 20-24 hours till it's down to 22c. Just google these methods there's plenty written about it. If your thorough with your hygiene I'd relax.
 
Damn, how big a pot out of interest, full batch size or partial? And how much do you let the pot cool down before sealing it up with glad wrap?
 
Ive slow chilled my keggle a number of times, finish the boil, whack the lid on, come back in the morning.. no dramas at all...

ed: no gladwrap.. just bung the lid on.. not a bad idea at all though for smaller pots
 
carniebrew said:
Damn, how big a pot out of interest, full batch size or partial? And how much do you let the pot cool down before sealing it up with glad wrap?
I'm a newbie too so I'm doing variations of what I've read. I put the glad wrap on as soon as the boils complete so the pots still damn hot. I do partials in my 19L "Big W" $20 pot that has 8-12L of wort. I normally don't do the starsan but the last brew had some spillage. So I thought I'd spray as even though I wiped up there would still be some goodies to invite the baddies to the door. I also whacked a laca around the glad wrap. So far I've slow-chilled about 6 partial mash brews and they've all been better than expected for me.
 
I think it was Palmer who scared me off the idea of 'slow chilling', chapter 7.4:

7.4 Cooling the Wort
At the end of the boil, it is important to cool the wort quickly. While it is still hot, (above 140°F) bacteria and wild yeasts are inhibited. But it is very susceptible to oxidation damage as it cools. There are also the previously mentioned sulfur compounds that evolve from the wort while it is hot. If the wort is cooled slowly, dimethyl sulfide will continue to be produced in the wort without being boiled off; causing off-flavors in the finished beer. The objective is to rapidly cool the wort to below 80°F before oxidation or contamination can occur.
The DMS bit specifically, I didn't want "cooked corn" aromas in my beer. I dug around a bit further after hearing about no chill and slow chill, and it sounds like Palmer over-simplifies it a bit....for example beersmith.com goes into detail regarding how the "S-Methyl Methionine (SMM)" created during germination/kilning of malt causes DMS, and that 2-row barley is a lot less susceptible than 6-row. Mind you they then go on to talk about the importance of rapidly chilling your wort, including this statement:

For every hour you have hot wort sitting around, you will produce approximately a 30% increase in DMS.
But then further down say it's mostly only noticeable in light beers such as pilsners, german lagers and very light ales.
 
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