Has she cooked it?

[RNVET]

First attempt for the wife with wine and I think we may have cooked it. 1 Demijohn with the mix in and another with water and a heat belt around them as recommended on the instructions. Went to bed last night and all seemed well but this morning the temperature is up to 32C
Have we ruined it? I've turned the belt off and now await the advise of those in the know
Cheers

 

[JamesMcS]

Toasty! You might have killed the yeast, I've read that 30+ is out of the happy zone for yeast.

I would think the best thing to do would be to look for signs of fermentation over the next couple of days - if there's no bubbling and no change in SG you'll probably want to put another batch of yeast in there

 

[mac.eightball]

ouch, not ideal but i normally start my yeast off at 30-35c so they will probably have survived, give them a few days to aerobically reproduce and see what happens, nothing after 48 hours and its a quick hop to the brewshop im afraid..

 

[RNVET]

This is what we woke up to this morning. Bubbling away merrily so here's hoping!!! :-)

 

[tonyhibbett]

32 is actually a good starting temperature and kick starts the yeast.

 

[RNVET]

Day 5 and all activity has now stopped?
Do test SG and move on if it's correct or wait a while?
Cheers

 

[JamesMcS]

Can't hurt to take a reading for the next couple of days - what is it? It's quick to have finished primary fermentation, but then you did have it quite warm for a while...

 

[RNVET]

Took a reading and its down to 0995. The instructions state this as the final gravity?

 

[JamesMcS]

That was quick - I'd give it another reading tomorrow, then into the secondary if there's no change

 

[Slid]

That was quick - I'd give it another reading tomorrow, then into the secondary if there's no change

With much respect to others, I would be disinclined to touch for a week yet, CO2 or not. The fermentation chemistry is a bit more complex than I imagined and a fast, warm fermentation throws out some rather nasty stuff. Fortunately, in the end, the yeast will probably catch up with itself, given a chance.

I would definitely not stabilise or sterilise for a good while yet.

For this thread, it is a bit of a shame there are not more and better experienced than me to help.

 

[Brewtrog]

I agree with Slid. Although 995 is likely to be the fg, it could still drop a bit. Ignoring that, yeast tends to need to clean up after itself, especially after a warmer ferment. I rarely move from the first dj in under a month - unless the sediment is thick. Even when I do I don't stabilise the wine until I'm ready to bottle it.

 

[JamesMcS]

I think everyone is a bit more experienced than me on here :-)

I thought it was best to get the brew off the gross lees after the gravity target had been reached, then leave it in secondary for a couple of weeks to give the yeast time to clean up... My first wine did smell pretty funky at this point thought, maybe I should have left it a bit longer... Time will tell!