I think I killed my yeast...

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h1tman

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I'm looking for a quick bit of advise.

I'm making the Black Forrest Stout from Jamils Brewing Classic Styles


The base beer was almost completely fermented out down to 1.020 from 1.075 so I thought it was time to rack the beer on top of some sour cherries.


The cherries were hand picked months ago off a cherry tree at my brothers so I thought I should pasteurize. I brought the cherries to around 180 for 10min.

My wife was in hurry to use the kitchen so I ended up racking the Stout on top of the cherries while the cherries were still well above 100*F.

It's been around a day with no activity in the secondary. Should a pitch another yeast or wait? I'm also kinda worried about getting off flavors from the dead yeast sitting the bucket.

Any thoughts are appreciated.


later
seth
 
I'm looking for a quick bit of advise.

I'm making the Black Forrest Stout from Jamils Brewing Classic Styles


The base beer was almost completely fermented out down to 1.020 from 1.075 so I thought it was time to rack the beer on top of some sour cherries.


The cherries were hand picked months ago off a cherry tree at my brothers so I thought I should pasteurize. I brought the cherries to around 180 for 10min.

My wife was in hurry to use the kitchen so I ended up racking the Stout on top of the cherries while the cherries were still well above 100*F.

It's been around a day with no activity in the secondary. Should a pitch another yeast or wait? I'm also kinda worried about getting off flavors from the dead yeast sitting the bucket.

Any thoughts are appreciated.


later
seth

If your beer went from 1.075 to 1.020, your attenuation was approx 72%, with an ABV of over 7%, so I would think that yeast was just about finished anyway. You may have been able to coax a bit more fermentation out of it. What kind of yeast did you use and how long was it in the primary?

I wouldn't expect much of any activity in the secondary, since it was pretty much fermented out already. I wouldn't worry about off-flavors, either. I don't understand how you could get off-flavors from the yeast not fermenting the fruit.
 
I think you dumping 5 gallons of beer at around 70 degrees onto some hot cherries will just have cooled the cherries really quick. Certainly would not have raised the beer to yeast killing temperatures unless those were some really molten cherries!
 
If your beer went from 1.075 to 1.020, your attenuation was approx 72%, with an ABV of over 7%, so I would think that yeast was just about finished anyway. You may have been able to coax a bit more fermentation out of it. What kind of yeast did you use and how long was it in the primary?

I wouldn't expect much of any activity in the secondary, since it was pretty much fermented out already. I wouldn't worry about off-flavors, either. I don't understand how you could get off-flavors from the yeast not fermenting the fruit.

Yeah I used Nottingham and it only had been fermenting for 5 days, but the recipe indicated racking to cherries before fermentation was completely finished. I was only expecting a few more points out of it, anyways. The real question is, do you think I killed the yeast? If the yeast is still healthy, it should chew through the sugars in the cherries but what do I know.


As for off flavors, I've heard the dead yeast (if the high temp killed them) can cause off flavors if allowed to stay in a beer for an extended period.


Thanks for the input
 
I think you dumping 5 gallons of beer at around 70 degrees onto some hot cherries will just have cooled the cherries really quick. Certainly would not have raised the beer to yeast killing temperatures unless those were some really molten cherries!

That's kinda what I was thinking but was just looking for some reassurance.

Thanks for 1/50th of dollar.


seth
 
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