temperature question and potential problem.

[Sicochef]

I'm new to brewing and today I made my first beer, a California Common Extract with steeping grains. I carefully chose a closet in the house that sustains a temperature of about 70 degrees give or take 3. The problem I have is that the closet's temperature is maintaining 70 degrees while the fermentor has a temperature of around 80. I did some more reading and I now have the fermentor wrapped in a wet towel which brought the temperature to around 76 degrees. Is this going to lead to any problems with my finished beer, and if so how else can I feasibly fix the problem?

[HighCountry]

What sort of yeast are you using? I'm afraid there's not really a lot of yeast strains that will produce good flavors at 80 degrees...and if you're using the Common yeast, the news is probably even worse. That's really a lager strain that should be fermented in the mid to low 60s. There's not much you can do right now besides try to get it as low as you can and learn from the mistake next time. The beer will probably not be very good, but I suggest you go through the motions bottling the beer to get some reps in on the other steps in the process and learn a little more.

Remember that fermentation is an exothermic process and that the ambient temps need to be 4-8 degrees below your target fermentation temps, depending on the vigor of the fermentation.

[ApresSkiBrewer]

At this point, see what happens. It may be fine, or it might not be the best... but I agree, finish it out. without any really sophisticated temp controls, definitely try to find an ambient that is a good 4-6º F below your target fermentation temp as High Country recommended. When the primary fermentation slows in this cooler spot, feel free to bring it into that warmer closet to help keep it warm/ have the yeast finish the job.

Good luck!

[Sicochef]

After I wrapped the towel around the fermentor I managed to get the temperature on the sticker to read 70. I have my fermenting bucket sitting in my brewing pot full of water with a towel placed in it to wick away the water which seems to be doing a good job. The fermentation started off slowly with 5 bubbles in the airlock for 48 hours and now the fermentation seems to have increased with 31 bubbles/minute. I don't smell anything foul coming from the airlock and the temperature seems to be staying around 70. So hopefully it won't turn out too awful. Thank you for the advice

[Sicochef]

Also the yeast I'm using is Fermentis Saflager S-23

[HighCountry]

Good deal. Hopefully you got the temperature down quickly enough. Yeast tend to produce their nasty flavors during their propagation period, but the only way to find out is to taste once it's finished. Get your reps in and learn your packaging procedure. You'll get it perfect next time. Don't forget that the best part of making mistakes is that you get to try again. And when you try again, beer comes out the other side.

If the beer sucks, that's why God made neighbors.