I have a stalled homebrew because the temp got too high, but the must is at the right place — should I bottle?

Question

I was using a home-made heating belt (actually, a heating pad), and I forgot and left it on overnight. The next morning, the temp was 26 degrees and the fermentation had stalled. I checked the gravity with a hydrometer, and it is at 1.002. Should I proceed to bottling, or should I add more sugar and yeast to ensure that there is sufficient yeast action to carbonate and pressurize the bottles?

Answer 1

It's much more likely that your fermentation is done, not stalled. That temp is not high enough to hurt the yeast, but it is high enough to make the fermentation go very quickly. Given that and your current gravity reading, it's \done and you can bottle.