Yeast murder

I killed my yeast. We were hit with a sudden hot day and my fermenter got up to about 82 degrees for 20 hours. The beer was rapidly blowing off CO2 then stopped completely, with 24 hours after being pitched. Is the beer ruined? I was thinking of checking the gravity and then dropping in some new yeast if there is still more fermentation that needs to happen. Has anyone else tried this? Is it even worth my time?

You didn't kill it (you have to go much higher than 82)...more likely it fermented out on high-gear with the warm temps. Check the gravity, you're prb done.

Depending on what stage in fermentation you were at when the temps went up, you might have fusel alcohols and mucho esters going on...you might not notice much of anything. Proceed as normal and see what you get after a few weeks in the bottle.

Definitely check the gravity and see where it is. Maybe if fermented out already? 82 is a high fermentation temp for most strains, but not high enough to completely kill them. And some yeasties like it that warm, depends on what strain.

So how long has it been in there, 24 hrs? Is that what you meant. I would definitely check the where it is and if its not done, you can definitely add more yeast. The only draw back, depending on the strain, you are going to have some different off-tastes from the high fermentation temp.

It was the first 24 hours when this happened. The yeast definitely came alive, it was bubbling far faster than i have ever seen. It is possible that fermentation is done, if so i will bottle. If not i will add more yeast. I just hope it all goes well. Thanks for your input.

USE A HYDROMETER!!!!

Even if it's done, you'll want to give it a week or two for the yeast to re-absorb the esters they are certain to produce after a warm hard ferment like that.

Never bottle or keg without getting the same hydrometer reading for a minimum of 3 days, checking once a day.

Don't cool it back down too quickly either, or you'll pi$$ off your yeasties and they'll go on strike.

how fast is too fast for cooling?
I cooled it to 72 over about 8 hours.

bbrim said:

how fast is too fast for cooling?
I cooled it to 72 over about 8 hours.

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I'm not 100% sure. I thought I read somewhere 10 degrees in a day was a good rule of thumb. But I have done the same thing as you, let my fermenter get up to about 86, and then panic and cool it to 70 in a couple hours using icewater. I still reached my FG dead on and still made great beer!

Basically......RDWHAHB!

I just set it in a cool location so i may not have shocked it quite as much as you did. I'm feeling much better about this

After returning to normal temp I let the beer sit for a week longer, then bottled. The FG was 1.016, where I was expecting 1.012. The flavor is fine. I keep thinking it will taste off the first few sips and by halfway into a bottle I am loving it!