Fermenter got super hot

[phillip_h]

My fermenter cooling situation is kind a Russian roulette situation. I have an Ss brewtech fermenter with SS coils for cooling, and I have an immersion pump and a temp controller.

It works great unless the water temperature in the ice chest gets higher than the wort temperature. If that happens, the heat of the pump gradually raises the temperature inside the ice chest and, in turn, the temperature of the fermenter.

Clearly, my ice melted overnight and when I woke up this morning the temperature of the fermenter was 115°F! Is my yeast (wlp001) likely dead or seriously injured? Can they recover enough to finish the job?

I know that the initial alcohol conversion was done (down from about 1.080 to 1.015), but I know that there's a lot more work to do.

What should I do? Pray and hope for the best? Pitch more yeast?

 

[cubalz]

115 degrees will not kill or hurt the yeast. No need to re-pitch. Depending on how many days into fermentation you were before the spike, you may get some noticeable fusel alcohol hotness/bite to your finished beer.

 

[phillip_h]

115 degrees will not kill or hurt the yeast. No need to re-pitch. Depending on how many days into fermentation you were before the spike, you may get some noticeable fusel alcohol hotness/bite to your finished beer.

This is like 2.5 days into fermentation.

 

[kh54s10]

The yeast will actually love 115 degrees. At 2.5 days it is a question of how bad any off flavors might be. Hope for the best.

 

[hopbrad]

your good, off flavors are usually created during the first day or so during reproduction and initial fermentation. and since you were already down to 1.015, sounds like fermentation was about done.