Reusing yeast from a hot ferment

[imrook]

I have a yeast cake (S-04) from a previous batch that fermented a bit hot (78 F) I want to repitch this yeast into another batch, but I'm now taking pause. I know fermenting 04 that high throws esters and am crossing my fingers for my English Pale Ale, but I'm wondering if the hot ferment causes any biological damage to the yeast, or whether it just affects the batch that was fermented hot.

 

[Patirck]

I asked this same question in the forum with a batch of wlp380 from a hef that fermented too hot (or at least hotter than I wanted) and had too much bubble gum for my liking. The consensus from the forum was why take the chance, just get a new wlp380 for next time.

I asked white labs via email and the lab manager said that those kinds of flavors (temperature driven at least) won't carry over from one batch to another. Pro breweries reuse yeast from beers that ferment at wildly different temperatures all the time.

 

[imrook]

Everything you said makes sense. I sampled my Pale Ale while bottling and it tasted fine. I'm going to go ahead and try it and see. Somone has to be the guinea pig. I'll report back when I've tried the beer.

 

[jeremydgreat]

Hey imrook! I know this thread is old now, but I'm in the same boat. Did it turn out fine?

 

[diS]

Fermentation temperature is compromise between needs of brewer and needs of yeast. We like to ferment it low to reduce off flavors, while yeast prefers higher temperature for propagation.
That said, there is no reason why not to use this yeast again since potential off flavors will stay in beer... another example is starter, you can ferment it few degrees higher than your batch fermentation temperature just in order to get efficient propagation, after decanting it you are safe from potential off flavors.