how do I warm up my beer?

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TheCollector

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How can I warm up my beer in a relatively cold house?....for free preferably... It's in my pantry in the kitchen. I raised it up off the floor using my toolbox. It's setting at around 64-66 on the temp sticker on the side....
 
Are you fermenting right now? If so, what yeast?

Bottle conditioning? It will be fine, might just take a little longer to carbonate.
 
That's acutally a pretty good temp for ale. I would leave it be. The only way you could warm it "for free" would be to move it to a warmer room. You could put a lamp with a 100 watt incandescent light bulb in the pantry. That might boost it a couple degrees in there and wouldn't cost that much in electricity.
 
That sounds like an OK temp.

I've had good luck shining a 40w desk lamp on the fermenter at point-blank range. It's just enough to bring the temps up a degree or 2.
 
For free wrap it up in a couple extra blankets or towels. For a little bit of work you could create a insulated chamber or for less work but a little more money you could buy an aquarium heater which I believe work well but im not sure how high they go without a temp control.

But I agree with that being a good temperature. Remember that fermentation creates heat, so if its 64-66 degrees ambient its probably 3-4 degrees inside during the most active phase.
 
It's past the really active stage. It was around 70-something during the active stage. It's about 12 days in on primary right now. I am gonna wate 9 more days then bottle it. Is it ok you think? It bubbled like crazy for 2 1/2-3 days then nothing...(1-2 bubbles per sec)
 
Lots of homebrewers would kill to just sit their fermenter in a pantry and have it sit at that temp. I put mine in my basement and they hang at about 62.
 
It's past the really active stage. It was around 70-something during the active stage. It's about 12 days in on primary right now. I am gonna wate 9 more days then bottle it. Is it ok you think? It bubbled like crazy for 2 1/2-3 days then nothing...(1-2 bubbles per sec)

Sounds fine. Once the fermentation is complete (and only taking a gravity will tell you), cooler temperatures will help settle out the trub.
 
If it's a high alcohol beer (7ish% or higher) it could still need some finishing out. But like David said the only way you can be sure is by taking a gravity reading. 14 days after pitching is usually a good rule of thumb, typically waiting longer will just make your beer taste better. Unless it's a Pale Ale or IPA, in which case save the hoppiness and bottle sooner rather than later! Even an extra 9 days wouldn't hurt the hoppiness much but it does fade over time.

As for the bubbling that's normal, your most active fermentation is going to occur over the first 3-5, then you might not notice many or any bubbling. But just you don't see any doesn't mean it's done.
 
Well we'll see. The waiting is killing me! But its a high gravity IPA. OG 1.076 I believe
 
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