Ok guys, rookie mistake here.
I put on a Coopers Wheat beer kit today.
And I figured I'll try bottled water instead of tap water. But what I hadn't anticipated was that since the bottled water was room temperature the wort ended up at 30C.
The conundrum: Do I leave the wort in its most fragile state to cool down sufficiently? Or do I pitch the yeast too warm?
I left it for 15 mins and then pitched at 28C.
What would you have done?
Before I got a wort chiller I used to have the same issue. Normally, I'd just pop the fermenter in the chest freezer for about 1 hour with the lid on, which would bring it down to 20, then I'd pitch. Never had any problems or off flavours that I could detect as a result and I did this with all my kit brews.
I think you have 1-2 hours after prepping the wort before you have to worry, but I'll leave the boffins on here fill us in :)
Yeast should be ok but I would bring down the temperature to around 20C as the higher temp will ferment faster but will bring on some funky aroma,s that you wont want. :)
@Dempsey : Don't really want funky aromas, but how long would you leave the wort to cool down?
I'd have done exactly what you did. Wort at 28 to 30 oC is very prone to nasties so its important to get the yeast in as soon as possible.
The Coopers yeasts are more temperature tolerant than others. Bear in mind that these are Australian kits !
Have not used these kits myself but have heard the Aussi yeasts can tolerate higher temps ok however at higher temp the yeast will work faster and in doing so can produce off flavours. Best to ferment it around the 20C :)
a lot of yeasts recommend that you rehydrate them in 100ml of water at 30°C, so pitching at that temperature wont do too much damage provided you get it down to fermenting temperature as quick as possible.
I'd be more inclined to seal it all up and leave it cool down a bit more before pitching though. somewhere 20-25° for ale and 16-20° for lager
As said yeast will work in a wide range. Pitching warm near 30 would work but the yeast would produce off flavours during this process. That's why we try get the temp down around the 20c mark for ale and lower for lager yeasts.
Sanitization is very important and wort with out yeast allows bacteria present to take hold. Some people have left wort for up to a day before pitching in the extreme but this is a danger, especially when you have spent time getting to this state.
If the wort is high, as long as all the equipment was clean and sanitized you could seal it and place in a bath of cold water to bring down the temp before pitching.
Thanks for the advice guys. In hindsight I guess I should have plumped the FV into the bathtub with cold water.
It's all part of the learning curve ::)
I'm using Safbrew WB-06 yeast, which probably isn't as forgiving as the original Coopers yeast, but this morning it's happily fermenting at 20C with a nice head forming.
WB06 is very forgiving. you're fine.
it gives off clove around 18° and banana over 23°, so you might get some banana flavor in there.
I recently brewed WB06 at 27 to push it and it turned out superb. People love it.
Great yeast!
Quote from: RedWino on June 07, 2014, 04:40:38 PM
Ok guys, rookie mistake here.
I put on a Coopers Wheat beer kit today.
And I figured I'll try bottled water instead of tap water. But what I hadn't anticipated was that since the bottled water was room temperature the wort ended up at 30C.
The conundrum: Do I leave the wort in its most fragile state to cool down sufficiently? Or do I pitch the yeast too warm?
I left it for 15 mins and then pitched at 28C.
What would you have done?
I would have started swapping frozen PET bottles in and out of the wort (sanitised) to get the temps down.
Or I would have drawn off some of the wort into your PET bottles and put it in the freezer.
Never pitch at a high temp. One of the biggest faults in home brew is caused by pitching too high. Even for beers that like lots of yeast character (such as your wheat beer), you should pitch low, and raise the temps over the fermentation.
I regularly put a kilo of ice into the primary. And it hasn't made any difference to date. Saw it on youtube as a solution Aussies use!
I use ice I buy, not ice I make. So it's made in a controlled environment with filtered water.