Did I kill my yeast

[HB2112]

I recently brewed up an oatmeal stout. Put in the fermenter and everything was going good. Temperature where I ferment dropped due to cold weather and temp went from 68F to 64F in the fermenter. I turned the heating pad on low, which I rarely have to use, and I forgot about it. The next day, late in the day, the temperature was now at 82F. Going to put into secondary tomorrow. My main question is did I kill my yeast? Will it ferment more in a secondary? Will it even carbonate? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you

 

[MaxStout]

82F won't kill your yeast, but your beer could get some off-flavors. OTOH, if the temp rise occurred after most of the fermentation was done, the amount of off-flavors may be limited.

Don't give up on the beer, it might turn out OK.

 

[HB2112]

Thanks Max. I called a friend of mine that brews and he said to taste it after the secondary is done.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Thanks Max. I called a friend of mine that brews and he said to taste it after the secondary is done.

Don't move it to a secondary, just leave it in the fermenter.

Most people don't use secondaries any more, as it just another chance to ruin/infect your beer.

 

[RM-MN]

Thanks Max. I called a friend of mine that brews and he said to taste it after the secondary is done.

It takes temperature up around 140F to kill yeast. They really love temps up to 105F to maybe 110F but you won't like the off flavors those temps would cause the yeast to produce.

Skip the secondary. That is where you have the biggest chance of an infection or oxidation that can "ruin" the flavor of your beer. It will be just fine in the primary fermenter for up to at least 2 months (I've done that) or more.

 

[HB2112]

Thanks guys I'll skip the secondary and just give it a few more days. I love this forum and the experience you all share. I greatly appreciate it

 

[HB2112]

OK bottled last night. Tasted fine no off flavors. Keeping my fingers crossed and will update in 2 weeks when I try it out after carbonation

 

[RM-MN]

OK bottled last night. Tasted fine no off flavors. Keeping my fingers crossed and will update in 2 weeks when I try it out after carbonation

You have decent self control if you can wait 2 weeks to sample. I sometimes make 2 days. At that point it will be undercarbonated and will not form a head, but it gives me an idea of the flavor is should have. After that one beer sample I wait for three weeks to sample again except if it is a porter (2 months) or stout (maybe 6 months) as those beers do better with a longer wait.

 

[HB2112]

OK guys 2 weeks have passed and I tried a bottle. It turned out fine, so fine I had a second one. Thank you all for your input and encouragement that the beer would turn out fine. I greatly appreciate it.

 

[Triggs1980]

I have a similar question:

I am currently brewing a 5 gallon braggot using Kveik Yeast. OG 1.045. After pitching my batch fell to 66F and fermentation was pretty slow, so I purchased a heat pad and band which got the batch back up to around 90F and it started bubbling away nicely. It stopped bubbling after around 4 days time at which point I took a gravity measure and temperature reading. Gravity was down to 1.000 but temperature was around 110F.

I've read that this particular strain of yeast can survive up to 130F, but I'm trying to work out whether it's consumed all the sugars or whether I've killed it? Fermentation only took a week but for other brewers online appear to take 2 weeks, so is the fact that I've kept it above room temperature contributed to a quicker turn around?

Is it worth leaving it for a another week before moving to secondary or is the fact that it's back down to 1.000 enough to know it's ready to go? I'm planning on introducing some flavours and sugars into secondary, so I'm hopeful that I've not killed the yeast so it can carry on it's work in my demijohn. Fingers crossed.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

If you’re gravity is truest 1.000 you are finished fermenting as there are no available sugars left for the yeast to eat.