A Rookie's Mistake - Early Yeast Pitch

[Madavascus]

Like I said in my introductory post, I'm new to home brewing, so I'm trying to initiate myself using canned kits (to start with) and following the instructions that come with them. I'm also reading Palmer's classic book on the subject.

Started a Munton's Irish Style Stout kit, was following the instructions to the letter, and then I screwed up: I pitched my yeast too early, while the brew was at a temperature of about 100 degrees F. I'm pretty sure I killed my yeast. So should I run to the store tomorrow and buy myself an extra packet of yeast and re-pitch as soon as possible? Or do you think the yeast will survive?

Thank you for your advice!

[Kyle]

I hope you were able to cool it down after the yeast was in. It will probably have survived without too much harm if that was the case. Adding fresh yeast is a good plan though.

[Richard]

Definitely re-pitch, that yeast will have taken a serious beating.

[Chris Craig]

I started out using those kits too, and I have some advice for you.

1. If you can, replace the corn sugar with dry malt extract.  It will add more flavour and body to your beer.
2. Keep the fermentation temperature as steady as you can around 18ºC. There will be less off flavours in your beer.
3. If your fermentation bucket has a hole for an air lock, keep it sealed, and ferment for 3 weeks.  Ignore the instructions.
4. When you bottle, keep the temperature at around 20-22ºC for 3 weeks.  Your beer will be better carbonated, and by this time it will be 6 weeks old, and it'll taste better.

Now...why was your wort so warm?  Did you boil it?  If so, there's really no reason to do that.  Just empty the contents into your bucket, fill the can with hot water and dump it into the fermenter.  Do this twice, then top up with cold water.  No need to boil the water first.  

Bottom line: the instructions that come with those kits aren't going to yield the best results.

[Madavascus]

Thank you Kyle, Richard and Chris for your advice. I'm getting very vigorous signs of fermentation in my airlock (it's bubbling away pretty fast). Should I still re-pitch?

Thank you for that advice Chris! My wort was warm like that because I added 3 and a half liters of boiled water, and instead of adding 17 and a half liters of cold water, I added lukewarm water instead (d'oh!).

So if I get this right, you would recommend 3 weeks of fermentation in a fermenter (without siphoning in a secondary fermenter), and 3 weeks of conditioning in bottles?

[Chris Craig]

Thank you Kyle, Richard and Chris for your advice. I'm getting very vigorous signs of fermentation in my airlock (it's bubbling away pretty fast). Should I still re-pitch?

Thank you for that advice Chris! My wort was warm like that because I added 3 and a half liters of boiled water, and instead of adding 17 and a half liters of cold water, I added lukewarm water instead (d'oh!).

So if I get this right, you would recommend 3 weeks of fermentation in a fermenter (without siphoning in a secondary fermenter), and 3 weeks of conditioning in bottles?

If it's fermenting, there's no need to re-pitch, although it won't hurt anything.  

As long as you have a good air-tight primary, there's no need to rack into a secondary.  It's good for the beer to be on that yeast cake for a couple weeks.  It's nutrition for the yeast remaining in suspension.  But, yeah.  3 weeks fermenting, 3 weeks bottle conditioning.  By then, the beer will have aged enough that it'll loose the green-beer character.

[fakr]

How long ago did you pitch into the 100F wort?  if it was just a couple of days ago, I would repitch to be safe.  
You might see activity in your air lock, but you're not guaranteed that all the yeast you pitched is still alive.

Worst case, the yeast you pitched is mostly dead, and have turned into yeast hulls....which, if I'm not mistake, is yeast nutrient....so the second pack of yeast will have lots of food and nutrient to multiply.

Underpitching will leave your beer tasting less than desirable...I know this from experience.

[Kyle]

Chris' advice on improving kit beers is very good, that will help your future brews significantly

[brew]

I started out using those kits too, and I have some advice for you.

1. If you can, replace the corn sugar with dry malt extract.  It will add more flavour and body to your beer.
2. Keep the fermentation temperature as steady as you can around 18ºC. There will be less off flavours in your beer.
3. If your fermentation bucket has a hole for an air lock, keep it sealed, and ferment for 3 weeks.  Ignore the instructions.
4. When you bottle, keep the temperature at around 20-22ºC for 3 weeks.  Your beer will be better carbonated, and by this time it will be 6 weeks old, and it'll taste better.

Now...why was your wort so warm?  Did you boil it?  If so, there's really no reason to do that.  Just empty the contents into your bucket, fill the can with hot water and dump it into the fermenter.  Do this twice, then top up with cold water.  No need to boil the water first.  

Bottom line: the instructions that come with those kits aren't going to yield the best results.

This deserves a wiki page  

[Richard]

If it was me I'd re-pitch, since you don't want them to crap out early (either in bringing down the FG or in cleaning up after themselves).

[jeffsmith]

I agree with the advice to re-pitch. The cost of a packet of yeast in relation to the rest of the ingredients is a pretty small price to pay to ensure that you end up with a complete and healthy fermentation and good beer in the end.

[Madavascus]

Hey guys! Just an update on my Irish-style stout: The batch turned out great! I can't perceive any off-tastes. I think my thermometer reading may have been a bit off. Plenty of yeast sediment and gunk on the sides of the primary fermenter, so I'm guessing the process generally went well. Thank you for all your help in the past. Cheers.

[Richard]

Good to hear - slainte

[Kyle]

glad to hear it turned out well