did I kill my starter?

[San_Diego_Matt]

so I brewed a Dortmunder yesterday.

I made my starter on Wednesday and everything went great, but then our AC went out and it was near 100 degrees in the house all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

I pitched and everything is just as still as can be so far. I brewed with a buddy, we split 10 gallons, he made a starter too and his is bubbling away.

everything looked fine with my starter, but I'm wondering if maybe I should just pitch a couple of vials of WLP830 in there just to be safe?

What do you think?

[herbaljoe]

so I brewed a Dortmunder yesterday.

I made my starter on Wednesday and everything went great, but then our AC went out and it was near 100 degrees in the house all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

I pitched and everything is just as still as can be so far. I brewed with a buddy, we split 10 gallons, he made a starter too and his is bubbling away.

everything looked fine with my starter, but I'm wondering if maybe I should just pitch a couple of vials of WLP830 in there just to be safe?

What do you think?

"Near 100 deg" won't kill your yeast. How long has it been since you pitched?

[San_Diego_Matt]

it hasn't quite been a day yet. Normally I don't stress about this stuff, but it just seems odd that my buddy's beer is fermenting away and mine isn't yet

[beltbuckle]

I'm sure it will get going eventually but viability probably went way down... that temp would definitely stress them out. Did you bring them down gradually before pitching them in the cooler wort? Sucks to have everything planned out and then you get a monkey wrench thrown in like an A/C or fridge going out...

[San_Diego_Matt]

yesterday was much cooler and when I pitched, the starter was at 77 and the wort was at 72.

Stuck it in the freezer at 65, turned it down to 60 this morning and will keep dropping it this afternoon/tonight.

[San_Diego_Matt]

so I got home and it's still showing zero signs of fermentation. I'm fermenting in a better bottle for the first time and am just assuming the carboy cap I have on there seals....right? It's in a 5 gallon better bottle and I have a 5 gallon carboy cap on it with my thermowell in one of the outlets and an air lock in the other.

No foam on top or anything at this point

[beltbuckle]

Bummer. Got any dry yeast?

Next time you order supplies get a pack or two of some good dry yeast and keep it in the freezer. Replace this emergency yeast every 6-12 months. That way if something unexpected happens you at least can throw some dry yeast in there as plan B.

[San_Diego_Matt]

I'm going to stop on the way home today and get 2 more vials of WLP830. I'll take a gravity reading before pitching it just to make sure it isn't fermenting away and showing no signs of fermentation because all the CO2 is leaking out through the carboy cap.