JamesJ

Recipes 

While making my 2nd batch last night from an IPA Dry extract kit the instructions asked for a starter for the dry yeast package which I made and it looked healthy while I was brewing. The instructions said to to pitch around 72-75 degrees but it said to top of the bucket at 5 gallons with 3 gallons of chilled water. I put 3 gallons in the fridge the night before but the thing is, after I cooled my wort down with an ice bath to roughly 95 degrees (the instructions said to get it below 100 degrees) and I added it it in the bucket with the 3 gallons of chilled water, the temp went down to 60 degrees and then I pitched the yeast starter on top of that, put on the airlock and called it a night. I checked the temp this morning when I got up and it's sitting at 68 degrees with no activity yet. Will I have any problems pitching at such a low temp? Also, should I have shaken up the bucket some after pitching? The instructions didn't say to so I didn't. Would you recommend shaking it up now? Thanks!

Yooper

Recipes 

No, just leave it alone now. It'll be ok, but next time stir it well when you add your water. That way the temperature is uniform and you can check it before you pitch your yeast, as well as take the OG with the stirred wort. Also, stirring it well helps oxygenate your wort for better yeast health. Taking a warm yeast slurry and putting in a 60 degree wort is pretty shocking to the yeast, but it won't kill them. (Don't forget- yeasts are alive and don't like wild sudden changes in temperature any more than you do!) Don't worry about it now, though- yeast is resilient and should do fine. 68 is a good temperature for yeast to work.

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JamesJ

Recipes 

I forgot to say in my original post that I put 1 gallon of chilled water in the primary first then added my cooled wort and then added the remaining 2 gallons of chilled water and stirred it really good for a few minutes. I then took the OG and it was at 1.051 and the kit said it should be at 1.057. I was mostly concerned that the mixed water and wort was at 60 degrees after the stir. It seemed lower than I expected. Should I not chill my water as long next time to prevent this from happening again. Any thought? Many thanks!

schneemann

Recipes 

I'm not sure why they're recommending you to chill the water unless they want to use that to cool the wort down to pitching temperature.

I wouldn't chill the water, I'd let the wort cool longer. Keep the water out of the fridge and let it stay at room temperature.

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Secondary - Bombsight Ale-toberfest
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