Primary got very warm and fermentation stopped, what do I do?

[italynstallyn44]

I am brewing an Oktoberfast with Wyeast German Ale Yeast. I brewed this on Friday afternoon and pitched the yeast at about 68 degrees and by Saturday around Noon the airlock was starting to bubble. I put my primary bucket into my fridge in the garage in order to begin bringing it down to my desired fermentation temp of 60 degrees. I had to go out of town and got back today around 5 PM and checked my brew and the fridge was not on and the thermometer on my primary bucket said 78 degrees . All airlock activity had stopped. I turned the fridge back on to get the temps down as quick as possible. What should I do? Pitch more yeast? Will fermentation start back up when temps drop?

 

[broadbill]

fermentation should have been more active at the higher temps, not lower/stalled. 78 degrees isn't anywhere hot enough to kill the yeast. Whatever is going on, its not because the yeast are stalled.

 

[binkman]

I'd be surprised if it fermented out that fast. What yeast were you using?

I'd just drop the fridge back to your ideal temp. If the yeast stopped because they are done, then there's nothing else for it. If they got too hot, they should restart if you bring the temperature bak down, but I'm not sure if 78F would be enough to stop them or not. Might be. You might be lucky, they might not have done much by the time they went on holiday.

 

[Yooper]

I've seen warm fermentations finish out in 24 hours. If your fermentation got that warm, it's not dead- it's simply done. The yeast love warm temperatures and will go nuts and finish up quickly.

I'd check the SG before doing anything much, but I'd definitely let this one sit for a long while.

 

[italynstallyn44]

Checked my SG just now and it was at 1.018, which is right where I'm looking to be to transfer to secondary. I guess my fermentation sped by while I was away for the day. I'm going to leave it in Primary for a couple more days then transfer to secondary.

 

[binkman]

If it were me, I'd leave it on the yeast cake for a good 2 weeks, if not 3. I'm no expert, but maybe keeping those yeasties around will help to clean up some of the nastier by-products that came about as a result of the hot fermentation?

 

[HexKrak]

Keep an eye on your SG. Don't trust your air-lock for "signs of fermentation". Sometimes an airlock will bubble with no fermentation (changes in barometric pressure, temperature, or other things), and sometimes it won't bubble when there is active fermentation (leaky gaskets, changes in barometric pressure, etc).