Too cold in basement

I am brewing a True Brew Amber Ale in my basement....and with a recent cold snap, the temps on the strip on the outside of the bucket are reading 54-56 degrees. Is this too cold? Started on Saturday and today (Friday)....all airlock activity is pretty much done, but it was never really active (at its most it was a bubble every 10 seconds or so). How much longer should I let it sit...since cold fermentation will take longer?

Did it ferment at these temperatures, or is this just what it dropped to after fermentation was complete. You might want to bring it up out of the basement to make sure it finishes if it was at those temperatures the entire time. You could always take a gravity reading if you're worried that the cold has caused it to stall out.

It has been in the basement the whole time.....if I bring it upstairs, the temps are 70 degrees up here. Is that too high? I was thinking that since it had been bubbling that it was just taking its time? So, I should move it up?

Most off flavor from high fermentation temperatures occurs during the early reproduction phase of the yeast. You are past that at this point. Bringing the wort temperature up should help the yeast finish their job as well as make them more likely to clean up any unwanted byproducts of fermentation. Go ahead and bring it up.

Thanks...I moved it up to a closet. Sitting in the dark. The highest it gets up here is 70. Will go down to 60 at night. One final question: do I leave it up here until I am ready to bottle in a couple of weeks?

The warmer temps will help with conditioning, while the colder temps in the basement would likely help with clarity. If you are worried about clarity give it a week upstairs before moving again. Otherwise you are good upstairs until bottling.

+1 bring it upstairs.

Check the gravity in a week. If it's done, then take it back downstairs to clear.

Listen to David, he is wise with his advice!

Thanks to all....should i take a gravity reading today as well? to have the comparison?
it has warmed up nicely to 62 degrees.

I ran into the same problem. If you'd prefer to leave it in the basement, a simple rubbermaid container big enough to hold your fermenter, an aquarium heater, and possibly a small aquarium powerhead or pump will do the trick.

Put your fermenter in the rubbermaid, fill it with water, add heater and powerhead (pump) set your heater to the temp you want it, and leave it go overnight. Check temp the next day, you'll probably have to fine tune the thermostat on the heater, but once it's set, you're done.

Our basement is between 58 and 60 as well, with the above method, I was able to keep the fermenter at a comfortable 68 degrees.

If your basement gets cold just move it closer to the furnace or water heater...

Monitor the temp with a therm strip and move it closer or further away to better control the temp of the bucket.

Thanks to all....the yeasts are doing their thing again (BIG bubble every 25-30 seconds). I guess the cold just stalled them a bit. I will leave it upstairs for a week or so, and then take it down to basement to clear....

back with another question about this ale....i just took a hydrometer reading (had the lid off twice due to an unfortunate spilling of the first sample....used a turkey baster all sanitized. hopefully no contamination.) and the reading was 1.019. the range on the kit was 1.010-1.012. i can't really bottle until next week. will the beer be okay upstairs in the warm, or should i move it back down to my basement (approx. 56-58 degrees) to start the clarity process?

Don't move it until you are sure it is finished. Take another sample in a couple days and if its still the same you should be okay to move it back downstairs. It seems like it should end up closer to the predicted range however, at least as long as you ended up with 5 gallons.

I'm in the same boat. I've had my brew down stairs in a 52 to 62 range for its life of fermentation.

However, mine was rocking fermentation for 5 days straight. I had bubbles coming out the top of my air lock.

I've got the temp at a constant 59 degrees right now. I wrapped it in a blanket after the fermentation finished up. I'm thinking this brew will be alright. I'm pretty excited about it.

You could take a gravity reading today to see if anything has changed, maybe wait one more day since it could be at the end or past the end of really making a noticable difference in a day.

Let me know what you find out though. I'm curious.

Back again....I kept the plastic carboy upstairs in the 68-70 degree range until Friday night. Then, moved it back down to the 56 degree basement. Bottled it tonight, FG was 1.016. Not quiet the 1. 012 that the box kit wanted...but it had been in the plastic bucket for a little over 3 weeks.
Should I have not bottled? It tasted really good....and was definitely clearer than it was last week....
Thanks for all your help.

o4_srt said:

I ran into the same problem. If you'd prefer to leave it in the basement, a simple rubbermaid container big enough to hold your fermenter, an aquarium heater, and possibly a small aquarium powerhead or pump will do the trick.

Put your fermenter in the rubbermaid, fill it with water, add heater and powerhead (pump) set your heater to the temp you want it, and leave it go overnight. Check temp the next day, you'll probably have to fine tune the thermostat on the heater, but once it's set, you're done.

Our basement is between 58 and 60 as well, with the above method, I was able to keep the fermenter at a comfortable 68 degrees.

Click to expand...

This. I tried this on my last brew and it worked phenomonally. Brings the temp up in the cold basement to right where I want it. The added benefit is the heat capacity of water also prevents intial fermentation from getting too hot, even though its in heated water.

pjl

Sounds like your bottled at a reasonable time to me. Your gravity probably isn't going to be right on ever. There are to many little factors that you can't control. I usually am satisfied with .005 or less.

Its final gravity will change after its sat in a bottle for another 2 or 3 weeks with your priming sugar or malt. Check it again before drinking it and see.