BeerBorg

I am fermenting a 2.5 gal batch of Oatmeal Stout in my BD. Within a week (and I was out of town) the bubbler had popped off. The dogs found it and ate it. I had my wife lay a piece of aluminum foil over the hole and spread a towel over the foil. The temps were hovering in the lower 70's at that point. The fermenting brew is now at 79. Am I screwed? I CAN transport it in my pickup to a friend's basement about 10 miles away that would get the temps down.

I used two cans of the Oatmeal Stout, as per recipe on BD. I also added one can of LBE because anything below 5.0% ABV is just water.

What would you recommend? Toss it, cool it, leave it, something else? Pull a taste?

Side note: The fermenting process currently smells a little "sharper" (for lack of my limited brewing vocabulary) than the Pilsner, Irish Red or Wheat Beer that I have previously brewed.


Thanks in advance.

You've gone this for so why not just wait it out and see what happens. Wouldn't hurt to try a little bit but every week will likely see some change. The worst time to have a high temp is during active fermentation. Once that's done, things don't get as bad with higher temperatures. Plus, due to the nature of dark beer, it can be much more forgiving with hiding off flavors. But if there were high temps during active fermentation, you would still taste fusels.
Try to chill it down as best as possible and go thru your normal routine then bottle. At least if you taste it now and get off flavors, you know what you're starting with.

Good luck!

If you are using the yeast that came with the kits, it is somewhat forgiving, especially on the too warm side (that is why it is the yeast that comes with the kits) so you are *probably* ok. You just might want to let it condition a bit longer.