Hi all. I’ve always used a bucket as my primary previously, this is the first time I’ve used a carboy and I have a few concerns…
I’m brewing NB’s Nut Brown Ale extract kit using wyeast 1945 in a 6.5 gal carboy. The beer has been in the primary for 2 weeks now and the yeast cake has not fallen and there is no airlock activity.
The bigger problem though is that while I was out of town for the long weekend, my Nest thermostat went into auto-away mode and it got a bit warm in the house. About 73 degf. The temp has come back down now but as you can see in the pic there is a good amount of condensation on the inside of the carboy in the head space.
Looks like the high temp killed my beer. Went to bottle it the other day and nothing but fusel taste. No hops, no malt, just fusel. Man what a disappointment. All that hard work down the drain. Chalk this one up to a learning experience I guess. Now to convince the wife we need a fridge in the garage so I can brew year round 8)
Swamp chiller is a cheap and easy way to maintain ferm temps, and you won’t have to spring for an exta fridge yet. Let’s you brew in your current set up, and troll the locals for the fridge deal of the century.
I’m reasonably sure there was no contamination. I’m always very thorough in cleaning then sanitizing with starsan. I suppose underpitching is possible. I used a wyeast 1945 pack without making a starter. It was a fairly low OG of 1.044 though and shouldn’t require one.
Swamp coolers look effective but harder to control. I may try that while I’m fridge shopping
If ambient temperatures were around 73, the yeast may have pushed the fermentation temperature above its best range. A swamp cooler with a T-shirt and fan wil drop your temp by as much as 5 degrees and cooler, if you add frozen water bottles. It’s not really that difficult, either.
Give it a try on the next batch and you’ll probably like the results.
