I have a belgian wheat in a secondary ( added strawberries a week ago). I plan to bottle tonight. Had to go away for a couple days, and a/c went out when the temps here reached 93+. was not in a swamp cooler. there was no active fermentation going on that I could see before I left ( it had ended).
based on what neighbors told me, pwr was out around 48 hrs.
Still plan to bottle this, but my question is what kind of off flavors might I expect from this batch ?
Thanks !
If it was in the secondary it should be fine. The crucial temperature period for a fermenting beer is the first 3-5 days. After that (when fermentation slows or stops) is not a big concern. RDWHAHB!
:cheers:
thats funny, logged on here and was about to create a post asking this exact question.
same situation, it’s past active fermentation, got too hot and i was out of town. its even a belgian white!
nothing to contribute here, just thought it was too much of a coincidence to go unmentioned
so what negative effects are we dealing with when it gets too hot during the prime fermentation stages? I recently had this happen and can’t seem to get an answer.
I fermented my first batch way too hot(bout 80 degrees) and it ended up with a real ugly off flavor.
Ive heard it described as “hot”, basically it tasted like each bottle had a shot or two of vodka in it, not pleasant whatsoever.
My understanding is that if you ferment too hot it creates too many fusel oils which gives it that hot taste.
could be some misinformation in there, but long story short, it tastes crappy
The worst part is that (I’m assuming) this “hot” flavor only imparts an alcohol flavor without at least raising the abv above what it normally would have been. The least the beer Gods could do is gimme some hooch from this debacle!
Ya seriously
I shed a tear when i had to go through and uncap and dump a whole batch of beer
but at least i learned my lesson, and will never keep my fermenter right in front of the heater again
Fermenting too warm will cause fusel alcohols which gives it that “hot” sensation. These off flavors will NOT decrease with time.
If you leave beer on the trub for an extended amount of time or if the beer becomes severly oxidated you can get the same off flavor.
This ^^^. And that type of alcohol (the kind you DON’T want) can lead to hangovers, I’m told. It also just adds an unwanted flavor to home brew.
I have read that it can cause hangovers as it is a different type of alcohol (propanol) but I’m not sure it does.
I do know that it taste like sh^t. :mrgreen:
[quote=“Loopie Beer”]Fermenting too warm will cause fusel alcohols which gives it that “hot” sensation. These off flavors will NOT decrease with time.
If you leave beer on the trub for an extended amount of time or if the beer becomes severly oxidated you can get the same off flavor.[/quote]
So there’s nothing that can fix this? It’s just breaking my heart knowing that I’ll have to dump out that entire batch and be a week behind schedule for brew/primary/secondary/bottle/drink rhythm. 
[quote=“Hoppenheimer”][quote=“Loopie Beer”]Fermenting too warm will cause fusel alcohols which gives it that “hot” sensation. These off flavors will NOT decrease with time.
If you leave beer on the trub for an extended amount of time or if the beer becomes severly oxidated you can get the same off flavor.[/quote]
So there’s nothing that can fix this? It’s just breaking my heart knowing that I’ll have to dump out that entire batch and be a week behind schedule for brew/primary/secondary/bottle/drink rhythm. [/quote]
Nope. These dont mellow out. Sorry. I drank a batch that had gotten too hot because like you it made me a little sad to have to waste. I can tell you that it did in fact give me headaches. Not a hangover. Pretty much just immediate headaches.
Adam is right. Sorry, no fix. So…
WATCH THOSE TEMPS!
[quote=“Loopie Beer”]Adam is right. Sorry, no fix. So…
WATCH THOSE TEMPS![/quote]
Where were you guys to watch my carboy a week ago!
[quote=“Hoppenheimer”][quote=“Loopie Beer”]Adam is right. Sorry, no fix. So…
WATCH THOSE TEMPS![/quote]
Where were you guys to watch my carboy a week ago![/quote]
Ha nowhere helpful. Swamp cooler is a quick and pretty good fix for this problem. But if your a person that wants a fun project, look up fermentation chambers that others have built and try to do one of those.
