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- Mar 14, 2023
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Hi all,
A quick question regarding fermentation temperature for my latest brew.
I brewed up a beer for my annual Easter potluck a few days ago. I used Novalager for the second time, as the first time I used it I got pretty satisfactory results. However, this time around I realised that the fermentation temp during the first 24 hours was quite high, around 25 c! This concerned me a bit since the technical data sheet for Novalager indicates that the optimal temperature range is 10-20 c. I did place a heating pad under my fermenter along with a heating band, but these are both connected to an inkbird which is set to 20c, so neither of these things were active. (My reason for the heating elements was because my apartment has been quite cold lately and my home office (brewery) has externally exposed walls.) I know that the initial stages of fermentation tend to produce a lot of energy, and thereby also heat, but such a large increase makes me worried that I’m in for a world of unwanted off flavours, which is the opposite of what I want. The whole point of using this yeast was to yield a clean, lager-like profile with the limited time I have between brew day and the end of March. What do you all think, am I screwed?
I should also mention that I was shooting for a somewhat high gravity beer, around 1.060, but ended above at 1.065. My brew day yielded around 18 L and I used a whole pack of yeast. I wonder if this, too, may contributed to unwanted flavours (fusel alcohol, astringency).
Thankful for all inputs!
A quick question regarding fermentation temperature for my latest brew.
I brewed up a beer for my annual Easter potluck a few days ago. I used Novalager for the second time, as the first time I used it I got pretty satisfactory results. However, this time around I realised that the fermentation temp during the first 24 hours was quite high, around 25 c! This concerned me a bit since the technical data sheet for Novalager indicates that the optimal temperature range is 10-20 c. I did place a heating pad under my fermenter along with a heating band, but these are both connected to an inkbird which is set to 20c, so neither of these things were active. (My reason for the heating elements was because my apartment has been quite cold lately and my home office (brewery) has externally exposed walls.) I know that the initial stages of fermentation tend to produce a lot of energy, and thereby also heat, but such a large increase makes me worried that I’m in for a world of unwanted off flavours, which is the opposite of what I want. The whole point of using this yeast was to yield a clean, lager-like profile with the limited time I have between brew day and the end of March. What do you all think, am I screwed?
I should also mention that I was shooting for a somewhat high gravity beer, around 1.060, but ended above at 1.065. My brew day yielded around 18 L and I used a whole pack of yeast. I wonder if this, too, may contributed to unwanted flavours (fusel alcohol, astringency).
Thankful for all inputs!