Is my "2nd fermentation" too cool?

*disclaimer - sorry for making my first post a question and not an introduction in the intro forum, I'll get to it soon!*

Background:


I'm attempting my first homebrew, and have been lurking here for a few weeks. I'm finally at a point that I'd love some feedback and wanted to ask a question to people who've done this before.

I live in MN, and bopped on down to Midwest Supplies and bought one of their starter kits with buckets and a glass carboy and the rest of the works.

I'm brewing a "honey nut brown ale", and the instructions are pretty similar to wine which we've done once, with a fermentation stage in a plastic bucket before siphoning into a glass carboy. That's the stage we are at now. It is "supposed" to be in the carboy for 2 weeks before bottling.

Everything is going pretty well (I hope), but for the past week my "2nd fermentation" has been at 64*F. The initial fermentation was right at 70*, but my fiance asked me to move the brewing out of the bathroom (the only warmer room) and into the kitchen when we transferred from bucket to carboy. The closet is cold, the kitchen is cold, the bedroom is cold.

Are there any steps I should take to make sure my beer turns out well? I'm assuming that fermentation was providing some extra heat earlier, and that may be why my temps are down besides just moving to a different room. Thank you for any tips! I'll get around to posting an introduction soon!

64* is a bit cool but it will still make. Just takes longer.


Is it that obvious?

64 is fine for almost any ale. It all depends on what specific yeast you're using.

It's called a secondary fermentation - but it's not. It's just a clarifying step (unless it wasn't finished fermenting when you transferred, but it may have).

As a clarifying step, the temp isn't so important. the cooler temp will actually hasten the clarification. When fermentation is complete (gravity is stable for 3 days) many would actually just cool it to the 30's.


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If fermentation is done (time is not a good way to judge) then the lower the temp will help with clarification. Did you take gravity readings? You "should" be ok after 2 weeks of fermentation but a lot of factors can change that. If it is your first beer I wouldn't worry...RDWHAHB

What yeast did you use? 70*F is a bit warm to have it during the initial active period. In the future, it's better to start it at 64*F (beer temp) until activity slows and then step it up closer to 70*F.

How long did you keep it in the primary? I'm sure that you were simply following the kit instructions, but there's no good reason I can think of to transfer a honey nut brown ale to a secondary vessel. Transferring too early can lead to a stalled/stuck fermentation (with no yeast cake left to rouse) and there's always the increased risk of oxidation from the extra siphoning itself and/or too much headspace.

I left it in the primary for.. 16 days? I think the kit said 2 weeks and I procrastinated getting it into the carboy.

I have not taken gravity readings lately, I took one after getting everything into our fermenting bucket, and another after transferring.

I honestly don't know what kind of yeast I used, it was a dry yeast the guy at the LHBS gave me.

Is there any reason NOT to bottle after 2 weeks in the carboy?

Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate it! I got my intro up in the right forum

edit:
Some digging at the website of my LHBS leads me to believe that the yeast I used was "Safale Ale S-04 Whitbread Strain" At least I'm pretty sure that the packet said "S-04" on it, and that's one of the yeast options on the website for this kit. I honestly know pretty little about yeast varieties.

I ferment at 59ish and get very crisp and clear beer. I don't even check gravity for at least 2 weeks.

Remember fermentation is exothermic, so the beer is warmer and probably close to ideal temp.

I sometimes crank it up to 70 after about 1.5 weeks.

Did you do a gravity reading? When I DO use secondary, which is rare, I don't transfer until fermentation is complete, i.e., I'm at predicted FG.

At that point, the temperature isn't as big of a deal anymore. No more yeast activity, so no chance of off flavors due to high temps. Alcohol present, so lower chance of infection.

I typically don't go to secondary at all, but when I do, I would actually typically be cold crashing, so I'd go down to fridge temps (I cold crash in my kegerator at 40F, but I'd do it closer to 34F if I my kegerator went that low!). With higher ABV beers or sours, I might secondary at room temp to speed up conditioning a bit. I wouldn't do this with lower ABV beers, as there would be a higher risk of infection.

So, all that to say, what are you trying to accomplish with secondary? 90% of the time, you can just leave it in primary. If you have a good reason to secondary, then the temp should reflect whatever you are trying to accomplish.

Either way, I wouldn't secondary after an arbitrary number of days. It needs to be after you reach FG. 16 days probably didn't, but there's a possibility it didn't. One of the best things you can do in learning to brew is understand WHY you are doing everything, not just follow the directions. If you understand why, you'll make better beer, as you'll be controlling the variables and will be able to troubleshoot anything that doesn't go exactly to plan.

Hope that helps! Good luck!

Very good point topher. I like the way you said, understanding why we do the things we do instead of following directions


Is it that obvious?