SkewedBrewing

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Last night I pitched my yeast before I should have, the temperature was much higher than usual. I've never done this before, I'm usually really patient, but I was rushed by SWMBO.
I cooled my wart by an open window for about a half hour and then I poured it in with 2 almost frozen gallons of bottled drinking water. There wasn't really any steam coming from the wort and so I moved it to a colder place in my apartment and then I pitched. I haven't seen any action and its been about 15 hours. In fact, I think it was still hot and it created a vaccuum, sucking some of the water from the airlock into the fermenter. I know that yeast dies at 140 F and I think my wort was below that so I'm thinking it might be ok.
My question is this, is the reason there is no action the fact that the wort was super hot and the yeast couldn't reproduce as easily in it? Or, is my yeast dead and I have to repitch in a couple days?
Also, worst case scenario, do you think that my wort is contaminated from all of the moving around I did?

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Lou

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i'm assuming you didn't make a starter, since you didn't mention a starter... in that case, just relax and give it some time... without knowing how hot your wort actually was, it'll be hard for anyone to speculate about the viability of your yeast in it... might not be a bad thing to get a starter going now, though, so if you're not seeing signs of fermentation by tomorrow night, you can pitch some live yeast...

Walker

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yup.. relax.

Even if you make a nice, big starter and cool the wort to the perfect pitching temp, you might have to wait for a day or two for fermentation to start.

The quietness in your fermenter is probably just a sign that the yeast are stiill multiplying in number and have not gotten around to eating the sugar yet. As soon as the yeast count reaches the optimal level, they will start fermenting the wort.

-walker

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SkewedBrewing

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Ya, thats what I figured, thanks guys. I always regret posting these types of questions because its usually out of panic and I just have to wait it out and relax. This will probably come as I brew more and more. I think this is a reminder that I really have to invest in a good thermometer (and a hydrometer eventually). I hydrated my yeast 15 minutes before pitching this time, that could have something to do with this.

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