Hey folks. I've got half a dozen brews under my belt so I know just enough to be dangerous. One issued that I've struggled with a bit since starting this January is finding a place to stash the fermentor where the temp is most consistent. While it was still winter, I kept my fermenting batches in the bedroom closet. Some days the closet smelled Glorious!!! That worked fine until outside temps start getting above 60 or so. On sunny afternoons, that room can get pretty warm. I'm really suspicious that a warm day, on day 3 or 4 of fermentation, led to some fusel alcohol formation and a slight boozy character of my last batch.
So as temps have been warming up, I moved to fermenting on the main level of the house. It had been an even 65 degrees for days. It would have been just right for an ale yeast. But (un)fortunately, the outside temp keeps going up and we had a day the house got up to about 70. I mean after winter and the cold spring we've had, 70 in the house without the furnace felt great but it got too hot for the yeast considering the interior or that 5.5 gallons of wort can be anywhere from 5-10 degrees warmer than ambient. Again, this was right in the critical first 5 days of fermentation. I was able to put the fermentor in the basement after being exposed to the higher temps for only a few hours. The basement is about 62 degrees or so.
So here my big question: Before this short exposure to slightly high temps, high Krusen has passed and the foam layer had mostly cleared up. A second layer of foam had come up as a result of the temp rise ( i believe) and has still not cleared up about 5 days later. Otherwise fermentation is proceeding fine. I'll be dry hopping in a day or two.
I can post a pic of the current foam if anyone thinks that will be helpful.
So as temps have been warming up, I moved to fermenting on the main level of the house. It had been an even 65 degrees for days. It would have been just right for an ale yeast. But (un)fortunately, the outside temp keeps going up and we had a day the house got up to about 70. I mean after winter and the cold spring we've had, 70 in the house without the furnace felt great but it got too hot for the yeast considering the interior or that 5.5 gallons of wort can be anywhere from 5-10 degrees warmer than ambient. Again, this was right in the critical first 5 days of fermentation. I was able to put the fermentor in the basement after being exposed to the higher temps for only a few hours. The basement is about 62 degrees or so.
So here my big question: Before this short exposure to slightly high temps, high Krusen has passed and the foam layer had mostly cleared up. A second layer of foam had come up as a result of the temp rise ( i believe) and has still not cleared up about 5 days later. Otherwise fermentation is proceeding fine. I'll be dry hopping in a day or two.
I can post a pic of the current foam if anyone thinks that will be helpful.