Dude, I swear we are on the same wavelength as this EXACT scenario happened to me late Saturday afternoon. Wort in the primary was about 62F and rehydrated yeast was around 78F. I knew from past experience that I didn't want to shock the yeast and what I didn't know was how long the yeast would stay hydrated before dying out with nothing to eat. I dipped my thermometer in the wort to check the temperature and then put it in the yeast. Boy, them babies were hungry. Just the wort residue off of the thermometer made them start fermenting like crazy. Anyway, what to do with a way to cool wort? I came up with a hot bath. Fill the sink with hot tap water, put the whole primary bucket in the sink and then stir from time to time. After about 30 minutes, temp on the primary came up to about 70 and the yeast dropped to about 74. Good enough. About 6 hours later, the bubbler was quite active. I need a better plan to cool the wort evenally after boil. Wort chiller is looking better and better already.
