Apartment heater broke - effects on beer?

[nikkuchan]

Nearly 2 weeks ago I brewed a Bourbon Barrel Porter. Things mostly went well, and I got a lot of activity shortly after pitching the yeast. That subsided in a few days, and I let it be from then.

Then the weather started getting colder and we all got a memo to keep our heaters on all the time to prevent pipe freezing. So I did that. I kept it on the lowest, coolest setting, but soon the apartment was getting really hot (the coconut oil was liquid). I'd guess it was around 80 consistently. We were keeping windows open in the middle of winter. I called management and they told me that was just how the heating worked in the building and there was nothing they could do. About a week went like this. I worried about the beer. The area I kept it in was cooler, but it was still pretty warm. Lots of yeast and stuff floating at the top, nothing dropping, and it's been over a week since starting it.

Fortunately we had maintenance come in for an unrelated issue, and the moment the guy walked in he asked me if the room was intentionally that hot. I said no and he checked the heater and found out it was broken and stuck on the highest setting. He fixed it, and we got bearable temperatures. I checked the beer the next day, but I couldn't see too well inside because the inside was covered in condensation. There was bubbling, and a smell, so hopefully things will finish off and continue as normal.

I'm just a bit concerned on how the beer was affected by this. Hopefully not much; I'm really excited to try this and I don't want it ruined.

 

[ncboiler]

80 degrees is obviously very hot and I suppose higher than the recommended temperature of all yeasts so don't be surprised if you have off flavors. If you have experience with this yeast and/or recipe already it could be a good learning experience on how heat effects the outcome.

I just think it's REALLY funny that the management guy told you it's normal for it to be that hot and there is nothing they go do about it.

 

[sweetcell]

on the other hand, also don't be surprised if you have little impact from the heating. it would have been bad had the beer gotten that warm during active fermentation. but it sounds like primary was done and things had calmed down before the heat got cranked up. if primary fermentation was strong and complete, there won't be much if anything left to be fermented.

the airlock activity you saw might just be off-gassing: warm liquids can't hold as much gas in solution as colder liquid, so the gas was coming out of solution.

 

[jrgtr42]

I think you'll have some effect, but not too bad.
If, like sweetcell said, the heat was that high during full, active primary fermentation (say from brew day to day 5 or so) you would be looking at a ton of fusels and extra esters and so forth.
being that it was into the second week after brewday, I think the effects should be minimal. One thing to watch out for is suck-back of the airlock liquid as the beer cools back down to normal temps.