Keeping Primary warm

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Hopmunky

Active Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2009
Messages
29
Reaction score
0
I am currently experiencing a "next to stagnant" fermentation from what I believe is my apartment being too cold. I am fermenting a pale ale with an OG of .052.

Admittedly I did not make a starter because I was in a hurry but after about 36 hours it was fermenting nicely. After about 5 days the airlock slowed down drastically so I assumed it was getting closer to done.

Move to over a week later (today).
The beer is still fermenting (I can obviously tell because I can see CO2 rising and the airlock is still bubbling at a trickle pace. I have come to the conclusion that having the carboy sitting on the floor and my apartment being roughly 66 degrees that the yeast have gone all but dormant.

My trouble is I cant think of a way to get the temp back up. I have moved the carboy into the closet with my hot water heater which is slightly warmer but not much (if at all to be honest) and I put a towel under it to get it off the floor.

I need a cheap and safe solution to get the temp back up and keep it up to finish out this ferment. Any suggestions?




EDIT: BTW i'm currently at .022 @ 68 degrees. Im shooting for .012
 
I find a sleeping bag or some blankets wrapped around fermenters keeps them warm enough for the yeasties to do their thing. I'm pretty sure however 66-68 should be more than warm enough for an ale to completely ferment. I think if you can keep it stable at those temps you should just let it ride out until it hits .012
 
I find a sleeping bag or some blankets wrapped around fermenters keeps them warm enough for the yeasties to do their thing. I'm pretty sure however 66-68 should be more than warm enough for an ale to completely ferment. I think if you can keep it stable at those temps you should just let it ride out until it hits .012

Yeah I would have thought that too but man I am telling you it has been an extremely slow go for over a week now. I didn't check but I can almost guarantee it probably wasn't over .030 when the ferment slowed down. I'm just worried about it imparting flavors sitting there fermenting for so long.

I'm going to wrap it in something now.
 
I don't think you have to worry about off flavors quite yet. It sounds like you have had this beer brewing in the primary for almost two weeks, a lot of people leave it in the primary for at least four weeks, and in cases even much longer. I'd say you have more risk of imparting off flavors by unintentionally warming the beer up too much. Try letting it go for another week or two at the temps you had.
 
I had the same thing happen with my first batch. What type of yeast did you use? For my next batches i made starters and it never happened again
 
Yeah I will definitely make a starter from now on. I was just short on time when this one was done. I did drink my hydro sample and it was very good. Very bitter and hoppy. Not much aroma though as I didn't add any at flameout.
 
Back
Top