So this last sunday was brew day, I did a Rye Stout. 5 gallons. Everything went fairly smoothly, until I pitched the yeast, and stored it. I had forgotten to take a hydrometer reading, no biggie, but I figured I should, so I opened it back up, and took a sample. I didn't take enough (stupid me), and said to hell with it. Then, as I was putting the airlock back in place, the little black grommet fell through and into the beer. So, I decided to try to fish it out to no avail, and thought I should quit messing around and leave the beer alone. No need to further risk infection, right?

Because I live in St. Louis, and it is quite hot here still, I could only get my fermenting closet's temp down to around 70-75. But within the first 2-3 hours, the airlock was going crazy. It did so until 24 hours later. Then it stopped completely. I looked in the tank through the grommet hole, and saw that the krausen had creeped all the way up the wall. Seems good, right?

So my question is this: has my primary fermentation finished on it's own, or does this sound like something gone wrong? I'm using Munton's Ale yeast, and the max temp is noted to be around 75-77. I've used it succesfulyl before around the same temp as this, (between 70-75). Should I be re-pitching some yeast, or just be racking it to secondary?

i would wait at least 5 to seven days from the day you pitched to rack to secondary, with the alcohol in the beer at the moment your chance of contamination at the moment is greatly reduced,

dont worry at all about it, have a homebrew and let the yeasties do there work

Sounds like it has plenty of yeast to me.
I believe in giving everything plenty of time. So, I would let it sit for another 4 days minimum before it goes to secondary.

You really have no idea of what the OG of the beer will be until it finishes anyway.
If you have a yeast that has a range for attenuation, the numbers will be different from the low end to the high end.
And a lot of brewers here have results that are outside of the OEM specs.
No way to tell when it will stop until it's finished.
As far as attenuation goes, I take what I can get.

It's a lot easier to give it plenty of time if you have a couple of cases laid back.

I have had similar results using Coopers dry yeast. I wouldn't worry about it although I would do as kjt1776 says and leave it a while before racking for conditioning.

If your closet was 70-75 it's plausible the temp in the fermenting wort was 75-85 thus creating very active little yeasties... Other voices please correct me if I'm wrong on this one.

your definitly not wrong paulie, a good starting ferm temp should be from 80 to 75 and the decrease as the wort cools helps of course, the higher temps get the ferm kicking off just right and as the wort temp decreases slightly over 24 hours to 70 to 75 in this case, helps the yeast complete their cycle at a more safer temp.

I know alot of folks on here will agree with me when I say don't bother racking to secondary. If you are at all worried about the yeast not finishing then racking will just reduce the amount of yeast you have working. autolisis(sp) is not a really a problem except in extremely (like many months) long ferms. even without a OG you can still take SG readings to determine when the ferm is complete. I think most folks follow the steady reading 4 days apart rule. Or around there anyway. as kjt1776 says RDWHAHB.

yup, you're fine. I bet it just ripped right through the sugar.

+1 morticaixavier

I think you're fine. Sounds like a very active and fast fermentation. Let the yeast finish cleaning up the residual sugars. I would suggest waiting at least 10 days from the brewing date and then start taking gravity readings OR just wait 14 days, take no gravity readings, and bottle. (Yes, I know I'll get grief from the pros on that one, because I'm not taking readings on consecutive days, etc....)