A/C went out during fermentation, need help!

[PhilT]

I left town for a short business trip at noon yesterday (Monday) and got back today (Tuesday) around 10 PM. When I got home my house which I usually keep about 68 degrees F, was 82 degrees F because the A/C was out. The dark closet I keep my fermenters in usually stays 66-67 degrees F, and is now 81 degrees F.

I have 3 batches fermenting, all are 3-gallon size:
- Brown Ale - day 11 of fermentation - Danstar Nottingham yeast
- IPA - day 3 of fermentation - WLP100 yeast
- Pale Ale - day 3 of fermentation - Danstar Nottingham yeast

I'm not as concerned about the Brown Ale because most of the main primary fermentation was done before the temp increase, but day 3 of the other two is right whenever things should really be getting going. I should have A/C fixed tomorrow, but not before they have sat at 80+ degrees F for over 48 hours.

What do I do now? Is the Brown Ale ok assuming I get the temp back down and keep in fermenter longer so the yeast can eat away and off tastes? What about the other two since it was at the worst possible time? These are the 2nd generation recipe of original ones I made for each. Are any hopes of accurate taste comparisons gone?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Pratzie]

If ur trying to refine a recipe, I think ur out of luck. That's right smack in the critical time for fermentation temps. I know its not what u wanna hear but I think there is too great a chance of off flavors and the like.

Otherwise try the swamp cooler route with a fan. That's the only thing I can think of at this point.

Maybe try them again but with a 1 gallon recipe to limit the cost loss of the three gallon if that's an issue.

 

[mikescooling]

IMHO, It depends how your yeast started plowing through the sugar. If they were just getting rolling (no starter, or under pitch), I bet that generated a lot of heat. If the yeast had a fast start, you used a starter and fermentation started with in a few hours of pitching lots of working yeast, you may be ok. I'd still try to cool them down a little, like a water bath in the tub.

 

[m3n00b]

At 3 days you're past the growth phase and active fermentation has started to slow down.. you might be okay. Might have some small amounts of fusels in there.

 

[PhilT]

I didn't under pitch the yeast but I didn't do a starter. I used plenty of WLP100, obviously liquid yeast, and I rehydrated the Nottingham before pitching it in that batch. You guys have confirmed my thoughts of not being able to refine a recipe and compare tastes, but will the beer be drinkable/good? Will the taste just be "off" from what the taste should have been, or do I need to scrap the two newest batches and re-brew. The quality of the recipes I'm trying to make are more important than a little money for cost to re-brew. I just don't want to wait a couple more weeks of fermenting, and a few weeks bottle conditioning to find out that I should have scrapped and started over. I don't want to waste fermenter space on sub-par beer, but I don't want to waste what might be perfectly drinkable beer too.

I can get them back down to sub-70 degrees in a little while, if that makes a difference.

 

[m3n00b]

I would always wait and see. Taste them in a few days and see.

 

[BigFloyd]

The one I'd be concerned about the most is the pale ale on Nottingham.

67-68*F ambient air is really too warm for that particular yeast anyway. It rewards a cool ferment (think 55-61*F the first 4-5 days) with a clean result. If you let the beer temp get above 68*F, you're likely to start getting some funky off-flavors. When it gets on up into the 70's, all bets are off.

Since you're obviously brewing quite a lot, you ought to consider investing in some equipment to better control your temps, like a fridge/freezer regulated by a controller like an STC-1000.

 

[Pratzie]

Don't dump it. U can always just wait and see how it does over time. As far as comparing it, i'd count that out but u should still have beer that is drinkable.

 

[winvarin]

When exactly was day 3? Is Tuesday day 3, or were your beers already 3 days into fermentation when you left?

Consider this. You were only gone for 34 hours and you know your house was at 68F when you left. So the failure happened sometime in that 34 hour window. Your beer was still at 68F while your AC was still working. Then add to that the fact that the thermal mass of the beer likely kept it near your original temp for at least a few more hours. If the AC broke in the overnight hours, the heat up would have been delayed even further.

I say definitely do not dump it. It's possible your ester profile was mostly established when the AC died. For most yeasts on most moderate gravity beers, day 3 or 4 is usually when I ramp up a few degrees to get better attenuation. I don't ramp to the 80s, but it's still possible that you didn't damage the beer excessively, if you damaged it at all.

I say ride it out and see what you get. Especially if these are known recipes using a yeast you've brewed them with before. You'll know if something is amiss.

And as others have said, look into a temp controlled fermentation chamber. They can go out as easily as an AC can. But once you taste the results of proper fermentation temperature management, you won't go back to fermenting in a closet.

 

[PhilT]

All great feedback, thank you for the insight. I have been brewing a lot, so a temperature management system of some kind may be a great idea for getting the best fermentation results.

To answer the question about what day it was, the two most recent batches were brewed on Saturday afternoon and evening, so Tuesday was day three. Assuming the A/C went out sometime Monday evening, the temp increased right at day two. Right when my airlocks are usually going strong.

I've used Nottingham yeast on quite a few batches that I've made, and found it to be a relatively basic ale yeast. Nothing too noticeable as far as flavors, but seems to get my FG where I want it regardless of how high the OG was for a particular beer style. I have always fermented it at around 68 degrees F, so to think of a lower fermentation temp is something new I'll have to try. Taking that into consideration makes me think that a couple days at 80+ this early in fermentation isn't going to make the best of beers. I guess only time will tell.

 

[winvarin]

I have had Notty throw some unpleasant esters if i let the temperature get out of hand.

My bet is that, all other favors considered of course, those beers will turn out good but not great. I'd still think you got a good deal of your flavor profile established before the beer warmed up.

These may just be beers you'll want to consume young as they're not likely to be sable for the long haul.

 

[Hjandersen]

All great feedback, thank you for the insight. I have been brewing a lot, so a temperature management system of some kind may be a great idea for getting the best fermentation results.

To answer the question about what day it was, the two most recent batches were brewed on Saturday afternoon and evening, so Tuesday was day three. Assuming the A/C went out sometime Monday evening, the temp increased right at day two. Right when my airlocks are usually going strong.

I've used Nottingham yeast on quite a few batches that I've made, and found it to be a relatively basic ale yeast. Nothing too noticeable as far as flavors, but seems to get my FG where I want it regardless of how high the OG was for a particular beer style. I have always fermented it at around 68 degrees F, so to think of a lower fermentation temp is something new I'll have to try. Taking that into consideration makes me think that a couple days at 80+ this early in fermentation isn't going to make the best of beers. I guess only time will tell.

Bump... So how did this beer turn out?

 

[PhilT]

They were not good, to say the least. There was a little more to the story though. When I originally posted, I thought the A/C was going to be fixed in a day or two, but that did NOT happen. It ended up being out for almost a week. Once the A/C got fixed and everything cooled back down, I let them all continue to ferment for another couple of weeks. I was hoping any remaining yeast would eat any off flavors. I went ahead and bottled all three and let them bottle condition for about 4 weeks, but to no avail. The IPA and PA weren't even drinkable. They had bad aromas and fusels to go with the off flavors. The brown ale was more drinkable, but when compared to a previous batch of the same recipe, it fell way short of the mark. I left them all for another month or so and tried again, but the IPA and PA actually got worse. The damage had been done, and it didn't survive the week at 80+ degrees F. I went ahead and dumped them so that I could use the bottles for better beers, but it was difficult to do. The brown got a little better, so I've kept that one and continued to check on it and drink one every once in a while. It's a drinkable beer, but definitely not up to par. I'm MUCH more conscious of not only monitoring fermentation temps, but also making sure that it is pitched and stays that the yeast's optimal temp. Not all yeasts are created equal.. Temperature controlled chest freezer is definitely the way to go. I hated to lose that beer, but it was a great lesson learned, and it made me a much better brewer!

 

[Hjandersen]

Thanks for the update..