Ok, I boiled my first batch on this past Saturday, 02.16, the caribou slobber extract kit with danstar Windsor ale yeast. I live in a cold environment and the only option is to ferment in the garage. That said, I built an insulated box and am using a fermwrap with Johnson temp control to moderate the temp. The setup is working perfectly; however, I made a totally bonehead mistake and read the wyeast optimum temp (65-75) instead of the danstar (64-70). I pitched the yeast at about 65 degrees and set the temp control to 72. I was at 71/72 degrees in about 6 hours and was getting some movement. By Sunday morning (approx 18 hours after pitching yeast) I had a 2 to 3 inch krausen and I was feeling good. By 24 hours the krausen had filled the airlock and I had to switch to a blowoff tube. Things seem to go well for the next 18-24 hours and then seemed to just stop. At this point I started reading more and realized the mistake I had made with the temp. I adjusted the temp down to 66 at 72 hours. It has been cruising ever since at 66 degrees, but I have no off gassing and see no movement in the carboy. Did I dork this first batch up with my temperature mistake?? Could things still be ok in there?? Should I take gravity readings to see if fermentation has already completed?? Also, is it possible that i will get the alcohol flavors I’ve read about that can occur when fermentation is too warm?? Sorry for all the questions. Thanks in advance for the answers/advice.
Should be just fine. It will taste great since its your first one. :cheers:
I think that you will be fine as well. The first thing that you want to do is leave the beer alone, at least another week or two. Then take a reading and sample, if it’s time to move the beer then do so. Bottle your beer and wait until it carbs., about 2-3 weeks and let us know how it turned out. Cheers.
Thanks for the votes of confidence! I don’t yet know how sensitive these ferm temps are, if a couple degrees here or there will foil the plans or not. Any thoughts on the secondary fermentation? From what I can tell it may be worth it to just leave it in the primary for an extra week or two instead of transferring it. Thoughts?
With the higher fermentation temp, you likely are done with the active fermentation stage - leave it in the primary for ~3 weeks total and you should be good for bottling.
