Leaving beer alone for days (might get warm)

I will be going out of town for nearly a week. By the time I leave the apfelwine I have in my fermenter will have been in there for almost 13 days and the stout I have in my other fermenter will have been in there for 11 days. I'm not the type of person who leaves their air conditioner on when I'm going to be out for days so I'm concerned about the apfelwine and stout. Currently the two fermenters are sitting in the room that is normally the coolest room in the house (dark bathroom showerstall in basement). Generally I'm able to keep the temps at about 69-70F. But that is of course with the air running or windows open since I'm home.


Of course I know I could do a few things like putting the fermenters in a cold tub of water (maybe some ice). But lets say no matter what I did the fermenters couldn't stay cool. Will be beer and/or apfelwine pick up a strange flavor or simply be ruined? I only ask because I figure that fermentation for both will have, in theory, finished and that the yeast will just be in cleanup mode at that time. Does heat hurt the yeast cleaning up itself?

Well, I don't know what the fermentation time on the apfelwine is, but if you're really concerned you could rack to secondary. At 11 days, your primary will likely be done and if it gets a little warmer and it isn't sitting on the yeast cake, it should be fine. If you do leave it in primary, I still wouldn't be too concerned. It is pretty late in the game and I doubt too many off flavors would develop. I have a very lax attitude about brewing though.

the tub of cool water is a great idea if your Stout is in secondary. Spikes in Temps that you are talking about, I really don't think that it would be a good idea to have a brew in the primary on the yeast cake. That would lead to some off flavors.

As for the Apfelwein, Wine/Champagne yeast is really forgiving when it comes to temp changes. I have had a batch of AW get to about 85 deg without any noticable ill effects

I hope this helps some