Fermentation Fail?

[arnie7781]

I made a cream ale Thursday evening; I pitched the yeast about 10pm that night. Fermentation started right on cue the next morning (Friday) at 68 degrees. Monday, I came home and found my the fermentation cooler (with external thermostat) cracked open. It's 90 degrees plus in my garage. The back of the cooler was working overtime. Ice was accumulating in the back while 90 degree air was coming through the front. Any ideas what I should expect out of this beer given such a drastic temperature change of the 3rd or 4th day of fermentation?

The plan is/was to rack it to a secondary over hot peppers in another week or so. Trying to figure out if I should waste my time with the peppers/extra sanitation, or just keg as is and start the pepper cream ale over from scratch. Thoughts?

 

[arnie7781]

By the way, I used WLP 001 pitched around 70 degrees.

 

[dcp27]

if the temp change didnt happen til the 3rd or 4th day thn most of the fermentation should have been complete and probably caused minimal problems. if you're worried, a taste can certainly answer that for you.

 

[arnie7781]

Thanks. I was sort of thinking along those lines. I usually don't take gravity readings or taste the beer until I rack or keg. Sounds like I should make an exception in this case. Thanks again.