I pitched a pack of S04 into about 72F wort. I put the fermenting bucket in an ice batch and was able to get the temp down to 64F within 4 hours. Airlock activity was visible under 18 hours and is chugging along at 65F 24 hours later.
Is there anything I should be worried about with this process? I realize it would have made more sense to pitch the yeast after the wort had chilled however I just wanted to be done with it. I have found this strain to give off some funky flavors in the high 60s for some reason so I try to keep in the low-mid 60s.
I am used to US05 which is very forgiving. Not so much for S04 in my opinion…
I am more worried about any effects from dropping the temp after pitching. I realize that if I fermented at 72F I would be in trouble but just curious if temp change will noticeably affect the character of this yeast in this circumstance.
+2. No worries. I’ve done that before in the past. You wouldn’t want to wait until you get healthy krausen activity to drop temp that much, but 4 hrs shouldn’t give you any issue.
That’s what I was thinking. I was just impatient since my chiller is very inefficient in the summer.
I am just paranoid. I have had this yeast do weird things in the past but have also made some good beers with it. The weird things were likely related to operator error…
Here’s what I’ve done in the past in the summer - freeze 4 or 5 (20oz ) water bottles, cool with your chiller until it cools to ~ its limit (ground water temp), remove the chiller, and add the sanitized frozen bottles. You’ll need to stir to keep a steady temp reading. It’ll get you a few extra degrees of cooling. I’ve cooled to 60 or 62F this way.
EDIT - You need to be sure to remove the chiller when it hits its limit though, because at that point the steady temp going through the coils is actually resisting/slowing down your cooling the wort any further.
Gotcha. I am currently using that method to control fermentation temperatures in a water bath. When it hits 66F, I put in a frozen water bottle. When it hits 64F, I take it out.
I should probably use it to get it to pitching temps. Thanks for the suggestion.