Nottingham at 70 degrees?

[BradC]

I'm brewing my first 5 gallon batch and its an altbier using Nottingham dry yeast. I was around 68F when I pitched the re-hydrated yeast and moved the fermenter to what I thought was a 64 degree room that now seems to be staying at 68. Fermentation kicked off within 18 hours and is now going strong but the fermenter temp is at 70F reading the stick on. My gut instinct says this is a little high but that I should just let it go at 70 rather than trying cool it down and enter temp swings into the equation. Is it better to just let it go at 70 or should I try to cool it down a few degrees right now? TIA.

[BDawg]

I'd try to get it down a little. 70F is pushing the upper bounds. Altbier should be clean and crisp, and those temps will throw fruity esters. Nottingham is a clean yeast, so it won't be too excessive, but cooler temps will help preserve the clean character.

Wet a t-shirt and drape it around your fermenter. That'll drop the temp by 5-8 degrees.

Good luck and welcome to the hobby!

[BradC]

Thanks for the tip....lesson learned. I think I underestimated how much heat a 5 gallon fermentation would generate on its own, coupled with pitching the yeast when the wort was a little too warm for this style, I pitched around 70F. I got it down to around 65-66. Thanks again! -BC

[TheTodd]

I'd try to get it down a little. 70F is pushing the upper bounds. Altbier should be clean and crisp, and those temps will throw fruity esters. Nottingham is a clean yeast, so it won't be too excessive, but cooler temps will help preserve the clean character.

Wet a t-shirt and drape it around your fermenter. That'll drop the temp by 5-8 degrees.

Good luck and welcome to the hobby!

+1 to what BDawg said.

And don't worry about temp swings if you're just gradually cooling (or raising the temp in some cases). Problems associated with that are confined to either drastic changes (10+ degrees) or constant changes (up and down repeatedly).