fermenting below reccomended temp

My yeast (wlp005 whitelabs british ale) reccomends a pretty narrow 66-68 degrees, I'm getting a near constant 63.5-64.5 with my wort, is this a problem?

No problem. Once fermentation begins the actual wort will be several degrees warmer due to the conversion of the suagrs to alcohol. You will be fine.

Oh no I mean the wort itself is 64ish, I did a thermometer reading. It started at 71f for a couple of days to get the fermentation going then I put it in a cooler I made which dropped the temp down to 64. its on day 6 now.

As long as you are not in the low 50's where the yeast could go dormant, you are fine.

Revvy said:

As long as you are not in the low 50's where the yeast could go dormant, you are fine.

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...yeah, that...

Where did you get those temp ranges?

WLP005 British Ale Yeast
This yeast is a little more attenuative than WLP002. Like most English strains, this yeast produces malty beers. Excellent for all English style ales including bitter, pale ale, porter, and brown ale.
Attenuation: 67-74%
Flocculation: High
Optimum Fermentation Temperature: 65-70°F
(18-21°C)
Alcohol Tolerance: Medium

It's been my experience with White Labs that they recommend temps that are on the high end as compared with Wyeast for what is reported to be the same strain. From the chart on Mr Malty, that White Labs yeast, WLP005, is the same as Wyeast 1187, Ringwood, for which Wyeast recommends 64-74.

http://www.mrmalty.com/yeast.htm

White Labs also recommends that you start fermentation warm then cool the beer. I don't generally agree with their recommended temps or the idea of pitching warmer then cooling. If you pitch enough yeast (ie, a starter is used too) then you can pitch the yeast at or below the fermentation temp depending on what that temp is. I usually pitch 1 or 2 degrees below fermentation temp wth great results.

That said, I've never used Ringwood. But with other White Labs yeast I've fermented below their recommended temp without any problems. I don't ferment below 64 though...

I think that they recommend certain temps to achieve certain flavors that they describe. Ales, will ferment fine in the low 60s, just slower.

oldschool said:

I think that they recommend certain temps to achieve certain flavors that they describe. Ales, will ferment fine in the low 60s, just slower.

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Could be. But I almost always ferment cooler than they recommend. WLP023 Burton Ale, for instance, says 68-73 and I tend to ferment that at 66-67. Not a large difference. But that one's already very, very fruity. Can't imagine fermenting it at 73. I think Wyeast generally says 60-72, which I'd consider a better indicator or the safe zone for ale yeasts, with some variation in flavors of course. I tend to use 64-68 myself though (except for Belgians).

MattHollingsworth said:

Could be. But I almost always ferment cooler than they recommend. WLP023 Burton Ale, for instance, says 68-73 and I tend to ferment that at 66-67. Not a large difference. But that one's already very, very fruity. Can't imagine fermenting it at 73. I think Wyeast generally says 60-72, which I'd consider a better indicator or the safe zone for ale yeasts, with some variation in flavors of course. I tend to use 64-68 myself though (except for Belgians).

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I agree very much. I really don't like going to 70 except for a belgian.