Irish Stout- Fermentation - Week 1

Even though this is my first post here I'm going to jump right into some notes on week 1 of fermentation of our Irish Stout. The recipe was as follows:

6 lbs DME
4 oz. Chocolate Malt
4 oz. Caramel 10*L
4 oz. Roasted Barley
4 oz. Flaked Barley

Adjuncts:
1 tsp of Gypsum

Yeast:
Munton's 6m Dry Yeast

Hops:
1/2 oz. Nugget (Bittering Hops)
1 oz. Glacier (Aroma)

Anticipated OG: 1.046
Actual OG: 1.054 (perhaps my steeping actually turned into mashing?)


Unfortunately, the week I brewed this we had a temperature spike here in Eastern NC and my closet (where my brew is kept) was a lot hotter than I had anticipated. This yeast prefers temps in the mid 60's and my closet was easily in the upper 70's. Along with the exothermic reaction of fermentation, the temperature was easily in the 80's which produces off-flavors from esters (specifically Isoamyl Acetate which tastes like banana).

I corrected the temperature problem on day 2 of fermentation by putting my primary fermenter in a big rubbermaid container with water, frozen water bottles, and wet towels on the fermenter. The temperature of the water ranges from mid-50's to mid-60's now.

On day 2 I smelled nothing like bananas coming from the airlock. Unfortunately, yesterday it was banana city and I thought this batch was a goner. Because high temperatures not only produce esters but also cause the yeast to move along rather quickly (which is the cause of the esters - stressed yeast working too hard in temperatures they aren't suited for), I wanted to check my gravity and see if this beer really was ruined.

I pulled a sample from my fermenter and low-and-behold we've got it down to 1.021 and there is absolutely no banana flavor whatsoever. I was really worried this was going to turn out to be a Top O' the Banana Irish Stout (which sounds disgusting), but now I've got high hopes for this beer. The taste is still a bit sweet due to the gravity being a little high, but the Chocolate malt shows through with a dark, roasted, chocolatey flavor that is in the aftertaste. I like the bitterness that the Nugget hops have given this beer - and these flavors will really come alive after a few weeks sitting in bottle conditioning.

Pictures from the brew day will be up soon.