Did I kill my fridge?

[edgeofblade]

Over the last two days, I was letting my ordinary bitter diacetyl rest at about 70 degrees in the garage fridge. This morning I though it had rested enough and yanked the controller to crash it down for a transfer to a keg. I plug the fridge back in directly to the wall, now on the coldest setting. But the fridge didn't start running. the light didn't turn on inside... And it was downright hot in there.

1. Did I kill my fridge with the ferm controller? It's a standard analog controller with a fixed range.
2. Will this beer recover? I'm not thinking about dumping it, but I want to know if I can expect any quality at this point. Am I looking at autolysis thanks to the high temp?

More information: I noticed this morning when I pulled the controller and went for the coldest the fridge would take. Now that I'm thinking, the florescent light on the same circuit wasn't turning on either. I may have a tripped breaker, now that I think about it... my question about the beer still stands though.

 

[PT Ray]

If the first few days of fermentation were controlled anything after that should have a minimal effect on the ester production.

Sounds like a fuse/breaker. If you burned up the compressor it shouldn't take out the interior light. Plug a lamp into the outlet if you don't have tester to see if it's still hot.

 

[Beer_Guy]

... And it was downright hot in there.
…

+1 on your beer being OK.

My Son in Law brought over some home brews last summer. They sat in the garage for over 3 months and I know it got well over 100* in there. Turned out he dumped his part and when he tasted one of them he left here he was kicking his rear end.

 

[edgeofblade]

+1 on your beer being OK.

My Son in Law brought over some home brews last summer. They sat in the garage for over 3 months and I know it got well over 100* in there. Turned out he dumped his part and when he tasted one of them he left here he was kicking his rear end.

Was that in secondary? Because this is my primary.

 

[Beer_Guy]

BTW, how hot is "downright hot"?
Did you cook the yeast or cause all the alcohol to boil off? If not then your beer may be fine. Notice I said may.

The beers he brought were already bottled. They were freshly bottled and were conditioned in the heat. We had all forgotten about them.

 

[edgeofblade]

So, update on the fridge debacle. No breakers in the panel were tripped, but after experiments with a floor lamp, I found a plug plate breaker was tripped... on a different plate in the garage all together. Come to find out, this plate's breaker also controls the other plug too. Somehow, I think that might be a relatively normal thing, but I haven't seen it before. I've got the fridge powered again, but I don't hear the compressor running. I'll give it some time and see if it finally kicks on or trips again.

As to "how hot", you know Texas. It's in a garage. It's been about three days. You do the math.

EDIT: And after a few minutes, the fridge picked up and got to chilling again. So, everyone who said breaker, come on up and claim your 5 limited edition Internets.

 

[Beer_Guy]

Weird wiring is fun ain’t it?

At my daughter’s home we spent all day working on an outlet in the kitchen. Turned out an Electrician after a few minutes went into the main bathroom on the other side of the house and reset the plate in there.

 

[edgeofblade]

I threw a night-lite on the plug so I can give it a quick visual check in the morning and when I get home. It appears the breaker tripped again overnight. It hasn't done this before, so I may be running that extension cord anyway until I get an electrician.