Desired fermentation temp for Belgian Blonde?

[mpenn35]

I brewed a Belgian Blonde on Saturday, and all airlock activity stopped within 24 hours of pitching yeast, so I decided to check the gravity and temperature today, even though I always wait until at least 7-10 days before checking anything. I was just curious. Anyway, my gravity was at 1.020 which is right on track, but my internal temperature was at 75-76 degrees.

Is this too warm for this beer? Should I make some sort of swamp cooler to try to drop it a few degrees?

For what it's worth, I'm making this a strawberry blonde and racking onto strawberries after a few weeks in primary.

FYI: This was an extract w/ steeping grains. OG was supposed to be 1.072 but I came out to 1.060. There is a chance that I didn't mix everything well after topping off, but I came out with 4.5 gallons after the boil so only had to top off with one gallon of water. The yeast I used was dry S-33 SafBrew, which I rehydrated in about a cup and a half of preboiled water that was at 80 degrees when I added yeast to it.

 

[antony]

i think 75 is right on track with thisyeast--i think you'll be just fine.

 

[smagee]

Desired fermentation temperature will vary depending on the yeast in use, but in general, you'll want it a bit lower than that. Particularly with the Belgian strains, fermenting in the mid-70s will increase ester production and can lead to excessive fruitiness, among other side effects.

All that said, temperature control is most important in the first couple days of fermentation, so at this point, I don't really think you should worry about constructing a cooling device. Taste your sample and see if it seems unpleasant; if not, you're probably fine.

 

[mpenn35]

Thanks for the replies.

I haven't used a swamp cooler or anything on any of my brews yet, but we just got hit in the face with 75-80 degree weather and the house warmed up considerably. Looks like I'll have to start using some sort of temperature control as the weather is only gonna get warmer.

The sample tasted pretty damn good, especially for only three days old. I'm excited for this one.