Hi, I currently have a coconut porter about 4 days into primary fermentation, but my house air conditioner has decided that it's time to die. (It's alrady been up nad down throughout the fermention.) The bubbler has already stopped bubbling (OG was 1.070 so this seems early to me)... High temperature supposed to reach 95F pretty much every day for the next week or two. I'm fermenting with US-05 Safale, and I planned to finish with coconut in secondary, which might help with the coming off flavors..... but I'm wondering if the batch will be a lost cause... any idea?
The good news is that at day 4 the bulk of your fermentation should be done - the beer should be less sensitive to high temperatures at this point in time. If you have a big container that you can place your fermenter in you can do so, fill the container with water (and ice if you want) to cool things down. Cheers!
I’m guessing you don’t have a spare fridge or freezer hanging around. +1 on the big container with water. You can also consider using bottles of frozen water as needed to hit your desired temperature. If you go that route, have a steady supply of bottles of frozen water and change out as needed. Edited to add: Welcome to Beer Advocate @KGBschedule
Thanks - I'll go give the carboy a bath. My AC guy can get us back to 100% by Thursday, so I think I'll be taking a cold plunge myself!
Because everything has been going great so far? Reminds me of an old joke: When their little boy wouldn't speak, mom and dad took him to the doctor, who was also baffled. Finally one day the boy said, "My soup is cold." His parents were ecstatic. "Why haven't you spoken to us up to now?" "Because everything has been going good until now". Cheers!
Agree with everything suggested so far. But I would not rapidly lower the temp into the 60's as there is an excellent chance the yeast may take a permanent nap. Fermentis publishes a range for US-05 of 64 - 82. At this point I recommend slowly lowering the temp to the lower 80s and let the little guys try and finish up. There is conditioning taking place after active fermentation is complete, but gotta have the yeast in the ballgame for this to occur.
I usually use a wet t shirt to drape over the fermenter, and dump some ice on top, since the ice clings to wet fabric.
As always, I recommend tasting your beer. You want to know if it is a lost cause? A taste will tell you a lot.
