Flat beer caused by cold storage?

I bottled a Fat Tire clone a couple weeks ago, opened the first one a couple days ago and there was almost no carbonation. I tried another one last night, hoping it was just a bad seal on the first one, but it was flat too.

After thinking about it a bit, I think I know why they're flat. Right after bottling I brought the beer down to the basement, where its 50-55 degrees. I used Safale US-05 yeast, which wants to ferment from 59-75. Bonehead move, I know. But now I have two questions.

1. Is that temperature difference enough to result in flat beer, or do you think I have another problem?

2. Can I fix it just by storing the beer at room temp for a week or two?

Just to get a few things out of the way, the OG and FG were as expected, I had pretty active fermentation, and I'm sure I added the right amount of priming sugar.

Thanks!

Yes, you're storing your bottles in a place that is too cold. Get them somewhere that is around 70 degrees for a few weeks and they should start carbing up.

tppk said:

2. Can I fix it just by storing the beer at room temp for a week or two?

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Yes.

Too hot will kill yeast. Too cold (so long as you don't freeze) just puts yeast to sleep. Warm them up and they perk right up again.

That's great news. Thanks!

It's a trick! Send the beers to me and I'll carb them up for you.

Twist/agitate/invert each bottle just a bit to get yeast roused out of suspension. Then put your bottles in a warm climate (70ish plus) for about a week.

Then back in a moderate temp for a week or two, then chill for a week.

Bet it will be killer.

Don't forget to roust the bottles to mix the yeast.