Did my yeast just get killed?

Hey so this is my first post, and its kinda an emergency! (not really)

My friend just poured steaming hot wort into my yeast starter growler. I was trying to step up my starter amount by adding some more wort...and I forgot to tell my buddy to ice down the wort before he put in there...whoops! This was only our second time doing it.

There was only maybe 2-3 cups of liquid in the growler...DID ALL MY YEASTIES JUST BITE THE DUST??

FishNChips said:

Hey so this is my first post, and its kinda an emergency! (not really)

My friend just poured steaming hot wort into my yeast starter growler. I was trying to step up my starter amount by adding some more wort...and I forgot to tell my buddy to ice down the wort before he put in there...whoops! This was only our second time doing it.

There was only maybe 2-3 cups of liquid in the growler...DID ALL MY YEASTIES JUST BITE THE DUST??

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How much boiling water did you add, and I'd venture to say possibly. Sounds like you did, but I'd get a couple more responses before you take action.

2 cups boiling water and malt extract...

Yeast can start to die at 110 degrees and will all be dead at 140 degrees. (give or take)

Murderer

I'd definitely get more yeast and re-pitch. I wouldn't risk waiting to see if the yeast "made it". Easy solution.

NRS

Whoops....live and learn.

is that Taps i hear playing in the background?

Yeah, normally we call nervous noob on questions like this, but in this case your friend is a certified yeast murderer. The screams of the tortured souls of the yeast could be heard all the way to the sacred halls of "Beerhalla."


The beer gods are angry and the evil beer gnomes are seeking revenge.

He's coming to pee in all your fermenters.

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

>>The beer gods are angry and the evil beer gnomes are seeking revenge.
>>He's coming to pee in all your fermenters.



LOL

Revvy said:

Yeah, normally we call nervous noob on questions like this, but in this case your friend is a certified yeast murderer. The screams of the tortured souls of the yeast could be heard all the way to the sacred halls of "Beerhalla."

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Too f'n funny!

Oh No not the beer gnome! I believe I shall have to make a sacrifice to appease him.

I will drink massive amounts of beer and sacrifice millions of my brain cells to the great beer gnome so that my next fermentation will be mighty in flavor and strong in body!!

I'd almost like to see the OP feed more wort to the starter to see if it comes back to life... it just might! I wouldn't bet on it, but let's do the math here: The boiling water was 212F, but realistically probably a little cooler unless it was like literally right off the stove. The OP didn't say what temp the original starter was, but lets call it room temperature, 70F. There were 2-3 cups of starter and 2 cups of yeast-killer. So let's do the optimistic estimate, let's say it was 2 cups of 200F yeast killer added to 3 cups of 70F starter. If it all mixed together instantaneously, the average temp would be ~120F. Of course it wouldn't mix instantly, there'd be very hot pockets where the yeast would all die instantly, and cooler pockets where they could definitely survive.

I would seriously not be that shocked if 25% of the yeast survived that little onslaught. Again, I wouldn't bet on it -- if you are planning to brew with this, get a new starter going ASAP. But I bet you could bring this colony back to life if you really wanted to...

Yea the same thought process went through my head. I read some where on this forum that a heat shock of greater than 10 degrees would be enough to kill yeast as well. So therefore it would not matter what the final average temperature was, just what the initial contact difference was.

I was thinking maybe some of yeast on the bottom of the cake could have survived, but they are going to mixed in with dead/injured yeast. Honestly its not worth risking the off flavors in my beer, I'll just get a fresh starter going. Yeast aint that expensive, I just hope that they rest in peace!

And btw..it was pretty much right off the stove, haha.

FishNChips said:

I read some where on this forum that a heat shock of greater than 10 degrees would be enough to kill yeast as well.

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I'd believe it would kill a bunch of the yeast, but I have trouble believing it would kill ALL of it. Not that I'm an expert on this by any means, but still. The ancestors of these little guys did survive for millions of years without our help, after all... They aren't fragile wilting flowers

No doubt you want to get a fresh starter going, of course. Like you mention, even if the yeast live, who knows if there could be off flavors from stressed yeast or whatever. It's just fun to speculate about how resilient they may or may not be

Yea well I still have it setting out with an S-airlock on it. If it starts bubbling we'll know the answer!

jsweet said:

I'd believe it would kill a bunch of the yeast, but I have trouble believing it would kill ALL of it. Not that I'm an expert on this by any means, but still. The ancestors of these little guys did survive for millions of years without our help, after all... They aren't fragile wilting flowers

No doubt you want to get a fresh starter going, of course. Like you mention, even if the yeast live, who knows if there could be off flavors from stressed yeast or whatever. It's just fun to speculate about how resilient they may or may not be

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Yeah, i'm not sure about the 10 degree difference shock thing either. With my baker's yeast (dry), I regularly take it from the freezer and pour it into warm water to make a starter. We're talking at least a 50 degree change, and they don't die. But it *is* dry bakers yeast, so there may be a difference.