Oh no! My ferm. room is 90*F! Batches ruined?

jaxn · 01-07-2010, 12:05 AM

I have a nice little room under the stairs that usually keeps a pretty steady temperature. Lately it had been getting in the low 50s (Farenheit), so I got a space heater with a thermostat. Evidently something went wrong either yesterday or the day before because this evening I went in and the room was 90 degrees Farenheit. I've started cooling the room, but airlock activity is still non-existent.

The room contains the following batches:

1) 1 gallon JAO pitched 2 months ago, should be almost ready so I'm not too worried. Should I be?

2) 3 gallons clover show mead D47 pitched 10 days ago. OG 1.106, current SG 1.051. This seems salvageable. Should I repitch some D47 or wait it out to see if activity resumes after the temperature gets back to 65 degrees?

3) 1 gallon wildflower show mead D47 pitched 8 days ago. OG 1.095, current SG 0.998. Tastes very sour, which is expected I suppose.

4) 1 gallon orange blossom show mead D47 pitched 8 days ago. OG 1.091, current SG 1.037. Tastes young but not too bad. Since the SG is still relatively high, this one seems likely salvageable. Am I right?

5) 1 gallon habanero mead D47 pitched 8 days ago. OG 1.092, current SG 1.007. Tastes fair - young but not terrible.

Can I save any of these, some of these? Any advice? Support?

**Yooper** · 01-07-2010, 12:08 AM

They should all be fine. Wine yeast is really tolerant of high temperatures, for the most part, and you have all meads that will need to age anyway. I doubt you got many, if any, fusels or off-flavors from the high temperature. If the meads aren't bubbling, that doesn't mean the yeast is dead. The yeast actually love warm temperatures, and don't get killed off until 110-120 degrees or so.