Wort cooled too fast after pitching yeast?

I have been asking a lot of questions about fermentation and its temperatures on a few forums and getting some pretty good answers. But I have ran into another "problem" today. Most topics regarding the issue are their yeast-to-wort temperature difference at pitching time, as where my question/problem is a wort temperature change AFTER pitching. My wyeast that I am using says optimal fermentation temp of 60-72 degrees. I smacked the nutrient packet this time and all went well.

Well this is all fine and dandy, this is also my 5th batch. In previous brew sessions, I have had difficulty cooling my wort to 75-80 degrees due to lack of wort chiller and lack of sufficient ice on hand for my ice bath. Today I was able to get my wort cooled in my primary down to almost 70 degrees because I bought enough ice! I had the yeast packet swollen, taken out of the fridge 3 hours prior and pitched into my aerated wort.

With all this being said, I was able to pitch right away after adding enough water to bring the wort to proper volume. I just bottled my last batch and it stayed a little on the warm side during fermentation so I had constructed a crude make-shift cooler out of a tote, some towels, duct tape and some old styrofoam.

I had to go to work and just came back approx 12 hours after pitching. No airlock activity, and after removing my cooler lid and wet towel, my fermometer says its 54 degrees!!!! My other thermometer that is touching the wet towel draped around the pail says approx 60.

Should I have cause to be concerned? All other 4 batches showed some sign of activity within 12 hours. I not going to remove the fermenter lid until tomorrow afternoon , waiting somewhat (mainly 24 hours time) patiently until I see some sign of activity. I do realize some lids are not air tight and had that problem once before, but I could smell it and ended up getting a new lid.

If I pitch my yeast , and the wort cools below "optimal fermentation temperature" , does it kill or suspend the yeast resulting in stuck fermentation or cause any undesirable flavors? I am going to wait a total of 36 hours before I start a "OMG WHAT DO I DO WITH STUCK FERMENTATION THREAD PLZ HELP!!!!" , but in the case of stuck fermentation, do I just pitch more yeast of the same kind? Should I be worried? Man, I feel like the last 2 batches I did, I didn't worry at all.

Ok first this is that this will cause no problems with your batch, at that temperature the yeast will just have become a bit sluggish but will be in no way damaged. Raise the temperature back up to 65-70 and give it at least two days. You should then start to see activity. There is absolutely no reason that fermentation will not start once you have the temperature raised back up. This should have absolutely no effects on the final beer, it will just mean that you will have a longer primary fermentation period.

wulfsburg said:

If I pitch my yeast , and the wort cools below "optimal fermentation temperature" , does it kill or suspend the yeast resulting in stuck fermentation or cause any undesirable flavors?

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Nah, it will just move very slowly. But just after pitching is probably the point where you can most get away with dropping the temp.

RDWHAHB. The exothermic nature of fermentation will raise the temp of your beer on its own.

It looks like you are using 1056 or 1272, just bring them back to around 60 and they will start right up. People freeze yeast by accident and they come back. The good news is that any other bugs in the wort were also slowed down.

I wouldnt worry about it either, ive had beers take up to 3 days to start any signs of fermentation. I even had a beer that showed no signs of fermentation for 5 days, just to check it with my hydrometer to see that it had already made it to its fg. raise the temp a bit, and forget about it. if still no activity in 3 days check your gravity and if still nothing repitch and leave it alone

I got some bubbles! My new make shift cooler is working great ! I only have to add some ice every other day other than twice a day!! This beer is gonna be great.