Hot Alcohol flavor developed in bottle

[james_cornell]

So I brewed last night using a harvested American Ale 1056 and the temperature spiked today. When I got home the fermometer read about 75-76 but I am assuming I broke 80 today. Quickly cooled it outside once it got dark, and it's now fermenting like crazy and smells like hot alcohol, but my question isn't about that batch.

When reading up on what damage this might have done to my beer, especially considering the poor timing, I read about fuesel alcohol. A few batches ago, an Elysian Bifrost clone I brewed after 3-4 weeks in the bottle was perfect, probably the best I've made yet. But a couple weeks past that it smelled and tasted like hot alcohol, giving me a headache pretty quickly (granted it was about 8.4%). I've read that fuesel alcohols will fade over time but not show up later, is there something else that would have caused this?

 

[BigFloyd]

I've never heard that fusel alcohols fade over time. How warm was that previous batch when you pitched yeast and during active fermentation?

It sounds like you need to start paying much more attention to better temperature control, both pitch and ferment.

 

[james_cornell]

I always bring the wort down to 65, transfer to a carboy, shake the carboy for 3-5 min, then pitch yeast. I don't believe my pitching temps are the issue and I pay pretty close attention to my fermometers (until now they've always sat in the 70-72 range) and like I said the bifrost clone tasted great, no hot alcohol flavor or smell, until later.

 

[james_cornell]

Can the temperature at which the bottles sit create a hot alcohol flavor?

 

[tagz]

It would be unusual for fusels to develop in the bottle because there is so little fermentation taking place. You may have had some flavor compounds drop out over time, making the fusels more apparent. Your beers will taste much better if you can control your temps. A rapid swing up to 80 is not going to bode well. You can also get fusels from under pitching, so keep that in mind if you are not making starters.

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