[frochild]

It is a very long story, but I ended up pitching my belgian raspberry wit at around 94 deg. F.  I usually pitch such a beer at 64 and if possible let it warm a bit.  I wrapped my bucked in ICE and placed it in the basement, after an 1 to 1.5 hours I noted it was not cooling off. I then found a bin in which I could submerge it in water/ice.  I had to leave, but I think this worked pretty quickly as I left it on the cellar floor. When I returned 7 hours later it was nice and cool.  I have used this strain of yeast before and had it stall on me, so I used two liquid packs this time ( I don't have gravities because it is full of raspberries and I am not sure how accurate it would be).  The question I have for you guys/ladies is how much off flavor should I expect or did I save my beer in time? Either way I think it will be ok, but I was just looking for some insight.

Thanks

[frochild]

And while I am at it, is there a good way to check gravity with whole fruit in it? Do you just check it before you add the fruit.  I should mention that is what I was going to do right before my hydrometer broke. 

[HoosierBrew]

What strain did you pitch and when  (I'm assuming a wit strain) ?  Any activity in the airlock ? 94F would likely kill many strains. If you pitched Wyeast 3724 Saison you're fine, but past that I would be pretty concerned about    1/ dead yeast  or   2/ a beer that is incredibly hot and solventy from fusel alcohols (produced by a hot fermentation).

Also, it's much better to add fruit to a secondary fermenter after primary fermentation is done, because a lot of the fruit aroma/character can get driven out the airlock with the turbulence of primary fermentation, where the secondary fermentation from the fruit only is less intense.

[frochild]

It was a Belgian wit strain from wyeast. It is bubbling just fine.  I am just concerned about what off flavor might occur.

[HoosierBrew]

It was a Belgian wit strain from wyeast. It is bubbling just fine.  I am just concerned about what off flavor might occur.

Well, the phenolic character common to the yeast would be greatly exaggerated and, as I mentioned, there likely would be a solventy, 'hot' alcohol character from the production of fusel alcohols which form in overly warm fermentations (and can cause headaches). Head retention could suffer as well. I would just wait it out and see what you end up with at this point - if it's undrinkable, obviously dump it. But while not optimal by a good bit, it might be drinkable. Let us know what happens. Good luck !

[HoosierBrew]

OTOH, Belgian strains are often more tolerant of higher fermentation temps than other yeasts and tend to produce less fusels in my experience, but not pitched as hot as you pitched. Please post your results though.

[frochild]

I am hoping for the best .  So even if I got the temp down In few hours,  it seems like I am already in trouble.  I recall this happening toe a few years ago and all was fine,  but I am much better now and I wonder if I will notice.  Ohh well, guess I will have to try another batch to see what happens


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[majorvices]

I don't think 94 degrees is too hot to kill any yeast. You have to be up about 120 for that. I do think it is a really bad idea to pitch that warm but nothing you can really do about it except be thankful it was a belgian.

[frochild]

I will agree to that, Belgians type brews are the only ones I ever want to have those any of these flavors ... Yet I sigh at the stupidity that let to me pitching the yeast when I did.  Still going to drink and enjoy whatever comes my way. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[reverseapachemaster]

If it was only a few hours I wouldn't expect too much in the way of off flavors.

[denny]

94F would likely kill many strains.

AFAIK, almost any strain should be OK up to about 115.

[klickitat jim]

Wow, that really speaks to the flexibility of some of the things we freak out about. I'm very picky about my yeast. I won't buy if its more that 30 days old, and I ice it in a cooler and hurry home. Its good to know that I could leave it on the dash in the sun for a couple hours and still be ok. I won't,  but good to know.

I also chill my wort below fermentation temp routinely. Pitch temp, to me, means less than the temp you intend to start fermentation at.

[HoosierBrew]

Cool, stand corrected guys. I always thought that ~ or not much over 100F was pretty near to yeast cell death. 

[frochild]

When I originally pitched the yeast, I knew I would not kill it.  I just got myself into a time crunch.  I had decided to forgo my tried and true wort chilling procedure for a different technique.  When it did not work,  I had 5 gallons of wort with barely pasteurized raspberries in an open bucket.  I was either going to leave it unattended for 7 to 9 hours uncovered with two kids in the house or pitch yeast, cover, and rapidly cool in basement. Which is what I did.  Of corse as soon as I did that I regretted it.  I had been up all night and just made a bad call.  At this point I realized I needed to lean a few things and came to you guys. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[klickitat jim]

Now im curious. Fruit at the beginning? I'm an info whore, and not much of a fruit guy. What are you brewing and how are you doing it?