Fermentation Control Malfunction - Am I Screwed?

radm4 said:

Hi folks,

This morning I woke up to find my fermentation temperature control had gone haywire and had been heating constantly over night.

I don't know for sure, as I was leaving for work and only had time to quickly disconnect everything and stick the beer outside to cool down as quickly as possible, but I would guess it was up at 60 odd degrees.

The beer was currently being dry hopped and I was planning to bottle it in the next couple of days (its an American IPA).

My main question - is the beer likely to be ruined? Should I pour it down the drain and forget about it?

If not, here's my current assumptions (and some follow up questions):

1. The yeast will be dead so if I want to bottle condition I'll need to re-pitch some? Whats the best approach for this?

2. There are going to be some off flavours from the beer been heated like this. Is there anything I can do to get rid of / reduce them? Will they be noticeable in the beer?

3. Some of the aromas from dry hopping will have been driven off, probably the least of my worries at this point.

What do you think, worth trying to salvage or is it likely a lost cause and not worth the effort?

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radm4 said:

Hi folks,

This morning I woke up to find my fermentation temperature control had gone haywire and had been heating constantly over night.

I don't know for sure, as I was leaving for work and only had time to quickly disconnect everything and stick the beer outside to cool down as quickly as possible, but I would guess it was up at 60 odd degrees.

The beer was currently being dry hopped and I was planning to bottle it in the next couple of days (its an American IPA).

My main question - is the beer likely to be ruined? Should I pour it down the drain and forget about it?

If not, here's my current assumptions (and some follow up questions):

1. The yeast will be dead so if I want to bottle condition I'll need to re-pitch some? Whats the best approach for this?

2. There are going to be some off flavours from the beer been heated like this. Is there anything I can do to get rid of / reduce them? Will they be noticeable in the beer?

3. Some of the aromas from dry hopping will have been driven off, probably the least of my worries at this point.

What do you think, worth trying to salvage or is it likely a lost cause and not worth the effort?

Click to expand...

bomberns127 said:

in the op you said you were dry hopping the beer ready for bottling, does that mean 1st ferment was done and dusted and you were clearing and dry hopping? if so why was the heat belt/ fermentation system on? once 1st ferment is done the yeast doesnt need any warmth, or am i reading it wrong?

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IainM said:

Dry hopping shouldn't be cold, as then it will fail to extract all the flavour from the hops.

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bomberns127 said:

i folllowed the link to view the web page on dry hopping temps, the cool temp used on the page was 2 deg C (36f) thats not cold thats bloody freezing! temp in most houses if the FV is perched on the dining table- i get away with a lot lol- wouldnt drop past 10 C even on a real cold night

excerpt taken from the same website
"Of the 10 correct respondents, 3 reported preferring the cool dry hopped beer, 5 said the liked the warm dry hopped beer better, and 2 had no clear preference despite noting the beers as being different."

not too much of a difference really

seems temp choice is as individual as the beer we make.

heres hoping the beer concerned is ok and very drinkable.

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Dry hopping warmer speeds extraction, an important consideration for many breweries trying to keep up with the demand for dry-hopped beers. It increases the danger of extracting unwanted vegetal and fishy odor compounds, but an experienced brewer may gain better control over just what gets extracted. Brewers produce excellent beers dry hopped at a wide range of temperatures. The brewers on the panel at CBC in Chicago all dry hop “warm” but nonetheless differently.

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IainM said:

In Stan Hieronymus' book on hops (emphasis mine):



It seems that at that this Craft Brewers Conference panel all dry hop around fermentation temperature, which is consistent with the advice I've read online and what seems to be borne out by Marshall Scott's extreme but small xBmt, so I don't find it surprising that radm4 is doing the same. Of course you are right, it is individual preference, and there is nothing wrong with a cold dry hop. Personally, I don't ferment on the dining table but in a cold pantry, so I keep the water bath heater on at 17-18C when dry hopping, which is the same temp that stone brewing does it (17C), but still less than Laguanitas (21C) or Sierra Nevada (20C). It works for me.

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