Lawrence Brewers Guild

My lagering "cellar" got unplugged this week and my batch got to who knows what temp. What will this do to flavor?

Depends on the stage of fermentation when the temp began to ramp upward. If two-thirds of the fermentables were already consumed, it will have less of an affect than if only a third of fermentables were consumed. More yeast activity/reproduction at higher temps will mean more esters and fusel by-products. It will likely be drinkable, but may lack the typical crisp, clean lager flavor you are looking for.

meisel wrote:Depends on the stage of fermentation when the temp began to ramp upward. If two-thirds of the fermentables were already consumed, it will have less of an affect than if only a third of fermentables were consumed. More yeast activity/reproduction at higher temps will mean more esters and fusel by-products. It will likely be drinkable, but may lack the typical crisp, clean lager flavor you are looking for.

ditto.

As long as the majority of early fermentation was completed at lower temps things are quite salvageable. An early stage diacetyl rest is what happened hopefully. If you can, put it to bed at colder temps for a few weeks, take a sample and see where the beer is at. Might not be the target you were looking for as meisel said, but i bet a good drinking beer none the less.

jeffvineyard wrote:... What will this do to flavor?

Make it incredibly great tasting and near impossible to duplicate!

Thanks for the info guys. One great thing about this club is the excellent knowledge base. This is the reason I drive to lawrence for meetings.

I tried my batch today and picked up heavy notes of fusels. What happened? Oh well try,try,try again.

jeffvineyard wrote:My lagering "cellar" got unplugged this week and my batch got to who knows what temp.

Well, guess we now know those temps were probably a bit too high... I wouldn't give up on a batch just yet, unless it was outright infected... time and\or blending sometimes heals deep wounds. If keg space isn't a problem I'd let it ride out a cold lagering faze for another few weeks then cold store in a keg for a while... take good notes on perceptions and time lines of this beer... could be helpful down the road.

meisel wrote:More yeast activity/reproduction at higher temps will mean more esters and fusel by-products.

this

Jensen mentioned that time will help.I have noticed this with some of my ales, especially my imperial coffee stout. What is the process by which this happens? Does the yeast metabolize the higher alcohols even without the presence of O2?