Fermentation: (Way) too hot for 24 hours at end of primary

Hi,

I brewed a Scotch Ale 11 days ago. This was going to be my first brew with properly regulated temperature -- my apartment is very cool in the winter, and I bought a Johnson temp controller and a fermwrap. The setup was working fine, and I was fermenting happily at 66 degrees F. However, when I took a gravity reading yesterday I must have knocked the probe loose (I had it taped to the bucket and insulated with bubble wrap). So the probe was on the floor and picking up the (lower) temperature of the room, which I noticed when I went to rack to secondary today. The fermwrap must have been on for some time. When I racked, the wort was 88 degrees.

My question: how much damage was done? On the one hand, the wort was too hot for a maximum of 24 hours at the end of an 11 day primary. Also, there was no difference in gravity yesterday, before the accident, and today. On the other hand, it was a good 20 degrees over what it should be. What can I expect from here on out?

That late in the fermentation will probably have no effect....the yeast are pretty much done by then....it will accelerate the conditioning process so if you are at FG it's ready to bottle.

helibrewer said:

That late in the fermentation will probably have no effect....the yeast are pretty much done by then....it will accelerate the conditioning process so if you are at FG it's ready to bottle.

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Is the yeast the only concern for a temperature problem like this? What would have happened if, say, young bottles were exposed to 90 degree heat for about a day?

Are there any off-flavors I should be looking for in particular?

If the beer was already at FG when the temp spiked I wouldn't worry about as the yeast were already done doing their job.

If the spike occurred during active fermentation then the yeast could have thrown off a myriad of byproducts associated with off flavors produced.

As for bottles, ideally conditioning and carbonating should occur in the low 70's. IMO if the temp spiked for a day or two it shouldn't really pose much of an issue with the beer.