Too hot AFTER fermentation?

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Jaako

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Hey guys- a variation on the old "did I ferment too hot?" question...

I've had a hoppy pale ale sitting in the FV for about 4 weeks now. Had a good, clean fermentation at good temperatures.

There's been a bit of a heat wave in Sydney this weekend, and my FV climbed all the way up to 30°C. It's probably been that hot for the past 2 days :( I've got it inside the house now and will keep it cool(er) until I bottle next weekend. I'll be pulling a sample tonight to have a little taste and make sure it isn't ruined. The airlock bubbled a bit when I moved the FV and it burped out some apple smells which weren't there a few weeks ago.

Anyway, just a general question for you guys if you've ever had similar experiences? fermentation was long over, so I don't imagine the beer will be prone to the esters & fusal alcohols that a high fermentation temp creates- but it certainly will have just gone through rapid aging/spoiling over the past few days. I'm imagining the hop character is likely all gone...

Cheers,
KJ
 
Update: I took a sample and tasted it. There were no immediately detectable off-flavours, but the taste was decidedly "muddy". There was a lot of yeast still in suspension, so I tried to imagine what it would be like without the bready yeast bite which always seems to mellow out in bottle. Most of the floral hop aromas are gone, leaving just bitterness and a bit of a grassy taste (I didn't strain out the hop sediment when pouring into FV; didn't figure I'd be bottling after 4+ weeks)

I definitely can't say that the batch is ruined, but it's hard to pick out any clarity in the flavors... I'll see what I end up in a few weeks!

The apple smell I thought I picked up from the airlock was likely just starsan - I was worried that the high temps had turned my beer into an acetdahyde party.
 
I just had a similar problem occur. I'm having abut as much luck as you finding out if it will be OK. Long story short, a controller mistake caused me to heat my vessel to 120F. Fermentation was long done and it smells fine but being in plastic I'm worried about how safe it is to drink the beer. I'm bottling it today and I'll report back with results. I'm curious how yours ended up.
 
Update...Beer tastes great. In fact, we now call it hot stout and plan to duplicate the process. I'm thinking it just rapidly aged it. kind of helpful on a big stout.
 
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