Sanitized my yeast in hot tap water

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trevorprokop

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Whoops, just when I thought I was getting the hang of brewing I think I messed up this batch. I was sanitizing my yeast vial and forgot that the water was hot from the spigot. I assume the temps were probably 120 degrees or so, hot enough to barely get my hands in to pull it out. It was probably in there for about 15 minutes. I pitched the yeast into the wort, and after 48 hours still haven't seen any bubbles. At what point do I try to fix this problem and what would the best method be to correct this issue?

Thanks,
Trevor
 
i'm not a yeast expert, but that high temp exposure for that amount of time definitely didn't help out your yeast (and likely killed them). I would just re-pitch the same amount of room-temp yeast into your batch ASAP. also, for future reference, i mix my sanitizer (star-san) with COLD water - it doesn't have to be hot to be effective.
 
Do you see signs of fermentation? Any krausen? If so, then do not worry. Airlock bubbles only means there is fermentation AND enough pressure in your fermenter to require the CO2 to escape through the airlock. There could be a small gap in the lid or stopper you are using that is allowing air to escape without pushing through the airlock. However, if the wort shows no activity, I would go ahead and buy new yeast and re-pitch, just to make sure. It's a cheaper option than risking losing an entire batch to an infection.

For future reference: hot water does not sanitize sufficiently, especially at only 120F.
 
If you have more yeast available I would be inclined to pitch it now. Normally with no activity the correct answer would be to wait, but with the knowledge that you exposed the yeast to temps in excess of 100 degrees for 15 minutes, the odds are very high that you killed the yeast colony. You want to get good yeast in there as soon as possible to out compete any wild yeast or bacteria that may be in your wort.
 
Thanks for the advice. I was sanitizing with idophor with the hot water. So it wasn't just hot water. I'll check tomorrow to see if there is any activity, so far pushing on the lid didn't result in any bubbles. If no visible change in the fermenter I'll throw some more yeast in. I'll keep you guys posted, thanks for the replies.
 
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