Brew day problem!

Hi all,

It’s been forever since I posted here, so it’s good to be back!

I recently brewed a light lager over the weekend using 2007 Pils WYeast.

The yeast was pitched into 52 degree wort inside of a temperature controlled refrigerator. The problem? The door was wedged open slightly and I didn’t notice until the next day!

When I checked on it I realized the door was slightly open and the beer was fermenting at 76 degrees!! I freaked out, fixed the door so that it shut and now it is fermenting at a nice 52 degrees.

Anyone else have this happen to them where there is a good lager at the end? I’m hoping since I caught this early on during the reproduction phase of the yeast, that any off flavors will be cleaned up during the normal fermentation, diacetyl rest, and lagering phase.

Thoughts?

Only one way to find out - let 'er ride! I don’t see the temperature rise having any positive effect on the beer, though.

New Belgium ferments their sour ales with lager yeast at regular ale temperatures, so if it’s full of off flavors, you could toss some brett in there to clean it up. Definitely wouldn’t be a light lager anymore, but who knows? Maybe you just invented a new style.

Yeah, unfortunately a new style isn’t what I was going for lol. I was brewing this beer for a buddy’s wedding that’s coming up and he wanted me to make something for the people who prefer Budweiser ha ha. WHOOPS! :lol:

Umm… yeah. Scratch my idea. Not what they would want! :mrgreen:

Wish me luck that a miracle happens and the off-flavors aren’t too noticeable! I’m really really hoping they get mostly cleaned up since it was caught within 18 hours of pitching the yeast lol.

I have been trying to create a beer that would appeal to the Bud Light group and we just had a party this weekend in which I had 5 different flavors on tap. I decided to appeal to the Bud Light group by buying a couple of cases of Bud Light…problem solved. I don’t like taking up space in my kegerator with beer that I don’t drink. I know…I am an asshole.

I’m not saying this is going to work for you, but it did work for me once…
I brewed a lager and pitched a healthy amount of yeast (not sure what it was without notes in front of me). At end of fermentation I performed a d-rest. Sample tasted fine. Kegged and Lagered it for months and when I finally got it ready to jump it over to another keg it was a d-bomb (not to be confused with da bomb as it certainly wasn’t that!). As a final last ditch effort I took a sachet of 34/70 and pitched it warm (65*) and held it there for a week. To my surprise all the diacetyl was gone!
If it were me, I would let it ride and see what happens. Worse comes to worse you try this method.

For some reason Bud Lite people will drink anything that color. So I always do the same but use Rolling Rock or Yuenglings Lager (I can drink these). Once I convince them it is not a “fancy” beer they are usually pleased.

Its the Coors Light people I always have a problem with. They never seem to want anything but Coors Light.

Coors light is like sex in a canoe, f&#%ing near water! I just can’t see that crowd changing fer something with flavor… Sneezles61.

I have to go with porkchop on this. Unless you have enough time to make another batch, just ride it out. Not much else to do. That warm start might make it not as “clean and crisp” as you are looking for in a lager but might not be bad. People without the ability to brew at lager temps have had reasonably good luck getting close.

One of the things I try to do with the light crowd is hand them a small sample of one of my beers and say try this. If they ask what it is I reply just try it. Amazing how many of them say wow this is good, did you make this? Just got that reaction with an American wheat. Doesn’t work so well with something like a Stout though.

Just an update:

One week in and I had a ton of banana in that flavor. Ester city!

Now that I’m 3 weeks in, the esters are mostly gone. Banana is completely gone. It’s cleaning up nicely and I think it will turn out just fine. It may not be that super crisp cleanness I’m looking for, but it will probably be servable.

Thanks guys!