Ruined 1056 with high fermentation temp?

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Mr_Pants

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So, I think I ruined my beer but I wanted to see if anyone had any experience or advice.

I brewed on sunday and pitched a 1.5 liter starter of Wyeast 1056. Fermentation kicked off great and had a high krausen by the next morning but since the carboy was in the basement and I didn't want the temp to get below 65, I put on a brew belt. I was just going to occasionally check the temps and unplug when it got in the range of 68-69 and then let it drop back down.

And then I left the house for work in a hurry and forgot it was plugged in. I just realized (after about 18 hours of being plugged in) and temp was at 89. Krausen has collapsed but there's still a lot of activity going on. I tried to detect any off smells but it's an IPA and all I get is the hops.

So, opinions. Do I wait and see what the damage is after fermentation stops? Should I just age it regardless of the off flavors? Anyone have experience with accidentally getting this yeast too damn hot?

I have a digital temp controller that I use for belgians so I won't let this happen again, but I am hoping that I can salvage this batch.
 
how long was the beer in the 60s before it got up to 89? i think you have the best yeast possible for a situation like this. i definitely wouldn't ditch it, maybe drop it down to 68-70 and let it ride out for a while.
 
It was in the high 60s on sunday night and dropped to around 62 by late monday afternoon. Probably didn't get back into the 70s until late monday night or early this morning, by my estimate.
 
If you bottle your beer, keep it longer in primary/secondary and taste before bottling. You might be able to mask by dry hopping at that point. If you keg, you can always toss in dry hops if needed. Dry hops can do a lot of good things to an overly estery beer. And of course you might have no problems at all.
 
You may have a problem in that the maximum temp recommended for 1056 is 72'. I would not throw it out but be prepared for possible funkiness. I normally ferment 1056 in a 59' basement and the ferm temp is usually in the low 60's. Always produces very clean beer at lower temps.
 
Thanks for the advice. I checked gravity today and sampled a taste. It fermented down to 1.012 from 1.070 after 3 days and there's still quite a lot of fermentation going on. Taste wasn't blindingly horrible, to my surprise. I think I will just let it sit for a few weeks and then hop the heck out of it.

Thanks again.
 
Just to follow up, in case anyone makes the same mistake, I left it in the primary until last thursday (so 3 weeks) and dry hopped with 2 oz of hops for an additional week. Just racked to a keg last night, force carbed and had a taste this morning and I'm happy to report that this is a really good IPA. No real residual weirdness at all. Thanks for the advice.
 
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