Fermenting too quick??

[wstev]

I brewed my first kit beer(Midwest Amber Ale) yesterday, a quick rundown; steeped grains at 156F for 30 min, removed from heat, steeped for another 10 min and removed grains, added malt extract, brought to a boil, added 1oz hop pellets, 58 min later added the second packet hop pellets, 2 min later removed from heat into a ice bath, took 20 min to cool wort down to 80F, transferred the wort to a glass carboy, added yeast packet, then I aerated with oxygen at lowest setting till small bubbles started forming on top(apx 4-5 min)
Then I taped my heat pad on the side with a controller set at 68F, set up my blow-off setup into a 1 gallon pail with about 2-3 inches of sanitized water, this was at about 6pm, and about 3 hours later I could see it was starting to get active.
And by morning my blow off pail was about 2/3 full and it was blowing of gasses and foam like crazy, i lowered my controller temp to 64F hoping to slow it down a bit...
My question is, did I mess up? To me it seems its fermenting way too quick.

 

[wstev]

I should mention that my gravity after i cooled it down was at 1.052, a littler higher then what the instruction sheet said it will be...

 

[unionrdr]

Cooling it down to 80F,then setting the controller at 68F was alittle warm. It's the 80F temp that helped speed it up as the temp went down overnight. Lower it to maybe 65F to keep it in average ale yeast temp range.

 

[Johnnyhitch1]

Cooled to 80 yet you set your HEAT belt to 68??

Find anything wrong with that??

Higher temp fermentations will be very fast and viotile. They will also have more off flavors and fusel alcohols.
Next time cool to 65 and let fermentation ride up a point per day till you hit 68
This will ensure a proper start and finish to your fermentation.

 

[wstev]

my controller has been set at 64 for about 5 hours now, but the wort is maintaining a 68F temp in a 50F room right now.

 

[wstev]

I cooled it to 80 in the ice water, and i was brewing in my garage which was at about 50F, so by the time I had everything set up to ferment, the temp strip on the carboy was showing 71F.

 

[unionrdr]

As for myself,I chill the hot wort down to 75F or so in an ice bath. Then strain into fermenter to get out gunk & aerate it. Then pour in local spring water to top off to recipe volume. The water was in jugs in the fridge for a day or two before needed. It gets the temp down to between 64-65F. Stir for 3-5 minutes to mix well & aerate more before taking OG sample & pitching.

 

[wstev]

so ya, i guess I do see your point, my wort chiller is coming on tuesday, next weekend when I brew ill cool it to 60-65. I guess the instructions said I should cool it to 80...

 

[unionrdr]

64-66F is a good temp range for the average ale yeast. But always check the manufacturers recommended temp range for that particular yeast. You def wanna keep it in the sweet spot that yeast likes for good performance.

 

[wstev]

I should have asked. I used a munton's yeast packet. I googled it and it said 57F-77F. So I figured I should be ok if I ferment it somewhere in the middle of that range. Grrrr I hope it didn't effect my first batch to much :-(

 

[unionrdr]

Mid 70's+ can bring on off flavors. Get it down to mid-60's & give it another week after FG is reached to clean up any by products of fermentation & settle out clear or slightly misty before packaging.

 

[wstev]

It ended up calming down after a few days, pushed a bubble every few min, so I transferred the batch to secondary, brought the temp back up a point a day to 68, where it's sitting at right now, it bubbles once about every 5 min. When I transferred it into secondary my gravity was at 1.013. And it tasted really good, still a little sweet, but I think It'll be ok now.
I brewed my second Batch(Midwest cream ale) yesterday, I cooled that down to 61F, set my fermenting heater control to 64F and it's doing great, don't even need a blow off tube. I'm really happy with that batch.

 

[unionrdr]

That's another by-product of brewing on the cooler end of a yeasts' sweet spot. Less violent initial fermentation where no blow off is usually needed. But the lil yeasties can fool us all once in a while.

 

[BigFloyd]

I brewed my second Batch(Midwest cream ale) yesterday, I cooled that down to 61F, set my fermenting heater control to 64F and it's doing great, don't even need a blow off tube. I'm really happy with that batch.

You're getting the hang of it bro. 61*F ale pitch temp is golden. I promise that you will enjoy that second batch much better than the first.

A couple of tips for the future. Dry yeast doesn't need O2 added to the wort like liquid yeast (especially liquid lager yeast). It is processed with sterols that provide sufficient O2 through the initial stage. If you can get your hands on some dry yeast from Fermentis or Safale (which both come in 11g packets), use that instead of the Muntons. Rehydrate in warm tap water, attemperate to within 10*F of the wort, and you're good to go.

Kit instructions are sometimes very wrong, especially when it come to ferment temps. There's a world of difference between fermenting an ale at 64*F vs. 75*F. I suppose that they do that to encourage people to buy their kits thinking that they can make beer in their 75*F apartment closet for a couple weeks. I periodically talk with folks who have had those kinds of home brews. It's an uphill battle to convince them that, with the right techniques, you can actually make some really tasty stuff at home.