jprince
New Member
Saturday night I brewed my first batch, a pumpkin ale, and brought the carboy down to my basement for primary fermentation. Within 12 hours or so (Sunday afternoon), fermentation had begun. Sunday night I noticed that the temperature of the liquid had begun to fall (since the basement is so cold), though fermentation was still occuring.
I had put a sleeping bag around the carboy as soon as I brought it down to the basement, so I went to sleep Sunday night hoping that the temperature would soon level off. To my dismay I woke up Monday morning to see that the temperature had fallen to 59/60 F and fermentation had stalled.
Unfortunately I didn't have time to take action until after work - I attempted to warm it back up with a spaceheater, though to no avail. Ultimately, around 10:00 PM I brought it back upstairs and placed it on top of a heating vent for an hour or so. This raised the temperature to about 65, so I moved the carboy under a table and wrapped it in a sweatshirt to protect it from light, expecting to see fermentation when I awoke this morning. At 9:00 this morning the temperature of the brew was 67 F, but fermentation still had not restarted. Also, there was really no Krausen (where there was before), just a very thin layer of yeast on top.
Should I continue to wait it out or do I need to take further action?
I had put a sleeping bag around the carboy as soon as I brought it down to the basement, so I went to sleep Sunday night hoping that the temperature would soon level off. To my dismay I woke up Monday morning to see that the temperature had fallen to 59/60 F and fermentation had stalled.
Unfortunately I didn't have time to take action until after work - I attempted to warm it back up with a spaceheater, though to no avail. Ultimately, around 10:00 PM I brought it back upstairs and placed it on top of a heating vent for an hour or so. This raised the temperature to about 65, so I moved the carboy under a table and wrapped it in a sweatshirt to protect it from light, expecting to see fermentation when I awoke this morning. At 9:00 this morning the temperature of the brew was 67 F, but fermentation still had not restarted. Also, there was really no Krausen (where there was before), just a very thin layer of yeast on top.
Should I continue to wait it out or do I need to take further action?