Cold crash too soon

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KeithW

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New homebrewer and new to the forums here and I've been lurking for several weeks soaking up all the excellent know-how! I'm on my second batch of homebrew, an APA from a kit I got at morebeer.com. I use a cheap fridge I got on craigslist and a Ranco ETC-111000 temp controller with a thermowell to keep the ferm temp at a steady 68*. It was working great up until last weekend when I went out of town last Sunday and came back yesterday to find the temp controller stuck "on" with the fridge running and the carboy temp down to 38*. I was going to cold crash but not this soon! I wanted to ferment at 68* for at least 3 weeks but I got less than 2 weeks at 68* before it got cold. Is it ok to bring the temp back up to 68* and let the fermentation finish for another week? I don't know how long it has been at 38* but I'm sure it took at least a full day to get that cold.
 
Yup warm it up again if it is not finished and you will be fine. Check though and see if you have hit FG though. Depending on the yeast you might need to give it a swirl to get them back in suspension as well but I kind of doubt it
 
Your primary fermentation should have finished in a week but you do need at least another week for the fermentation to clean itself up. I would suggest raising the temp to about 70 after your initial week of fermentation to kick up a bit of activity to let the yeast clean up. Your beer will be fine. Varmintman's suggestion of a light swirl with a sanitized spoon is good.
 
Before I went to work this morning I turned the fridge off and propped the door open to let the carboy warm up. When I got home the temperature was up to 64 and I could see mild turbulence in the wort. I guess that means that fermentation has kicked off again. I checked the FG when I got home and it was at 1.015. OG was 1.056. The hydrometer sample tasted mighty fine!
 
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