Too Warm For Bottling?

The ambient temperature here is 40C (104F) today and yesterday.

I've got a brew that has fermented to completion and I was going to bottle it today but I had a sudden thought:

1. At today's temperatures the yeast could be dead in the brew.

2. Therefore there'd be no active yeast in the bottles to ferment in the bottles and do that job.

Is this right?

Does such a temperature kill all the yeast and leave you with nothing?

Or will it come to life if I

1. reduce the temp of the brew (I've got it in the bathtube wrapped in wet towels and sitting in cold water)

2. bottle and put the bottles in a similarly cold place ?


Or should I reduce the temperature of the brew and then add some more yeast before bottling?

Hopefully you did not ferment at the temperature.

As for bottling, it will not have killed your yeast so you should be fine. Yeast dies at a temp over 120°.

Nurmey said:

Hopefully you did not ferment at the temperature.

As for bottling, it will not have killed your yeast so you should be fine. Yeast dies at a temp over 120°.

Click to expand...

Sounds like it did.

I would like to taste it just for informational purposes.

104F ? Wow! Did it ferment at these high temps?

At this point, I would just bottle it and store it in a cool place.

Thanks for the replies.

No, I think it fermented at a more reasonable temperature. Still hotter than should be but I'm late to understand the importance of low temperatures.

The vendors of the brew kits don't help, here in Australia, for they always suggest you pitch your yeast between 22 and 30C - I think in some cases even going so far as to state that something like 27C is the ideal temperature.

I'd accept that, thinking that we've got yeasts bred especially for hot Australian conditions. But scientifically based postings here and elsewhere lead me to believe it is inescapable that beer will suffer if brewed too hot, and individuals have posted their own opinions that Cooper's (for instance) give instructions that are simply so much rubbish.

It is very difficult to brew at low temperatures and the vendors are simply trying to create the impression that brewing is childishly simple and good results will be got at high temperatures - in the interests of sales, but certainly not in the interests of long term customer satisfaction.

But back to this brew: I drew some off and put it in an old peanut butter plastic screwtopped jar with a sugar pellet big enough for a long neck bottle.

The sugar dissolved but I saw no signs of yeast activity.

This morning I find sediment on the bottom of the jar and there was a hiss/pop of air release when I opened the top. But there's no signs of any bubbles in the beer. It tasted okay, for a flat beer, slightly bitter.

So that leaves me wondering.

The SG of the brew is 1006.

If I can take that as scientific fact that the yeast is still there and will work then I will simply bottle it and hope for good results.


I suppose the temperature worries are less acute in the bottle stage? Slow or quick fermentation in there is not going to matter much?

Yup, sounds like the yeast are still viable if you got a bit of a hiss in only a day or two.
I would try to keep my bottled beer somewhere in the neighborhood of 21C for three weeks.

Next batch, check out different yeasts, check on the web and find the best temp for the yeast you are using. If it's too hot where you are (like July/August in the deep south in the USA) - set the fermenter in a beach cooler, with cool water and frozen bottles of water swapped daily. You may be able to keep the ferment temps at 18 or so.

Welcome to HBT!

'..in only a day or two...' - yes, in a little more than 12 hours. I'm impatient. I was thinking it should be full of bubbles and should have created so much pressure (because that tablet was big enough for 750ml beer and the jar has maybe 200ml) that it would have blown the jar out rounded so's I could easily see all was good.

But I take the point. Any air at all in just 12 hours...

O.K. I'll bottle it. And brew my next batch as you say. I'll find something to put my brew vessel in - we've got a broken freezer that might do.

I'm very taken by the idea of these long, cold lager fermentations - down at 10C or such - and I'd like to find a way to do that.

Thanks for the welcome, I'm happy to be here.