Fermenting Temps?

How picky is the temps that you ferment at?
The brew I have going now is sitting at 63-64* the kit I brewed it from (Brewers Best Irish Stout) says to ferment at 68-72*. Without adding heat to the room it's in it will never get that high.

The airlock has never shown much or any activity other then lifting the hood up a little. But the gravity is going down.
I was just wondering what will happen, if anything, fermenting at a lower temp?

I think you've partly answered your own question. Fermenting at lower temps will result in a slower fermentation. Although if it's too cold the yeast will hybernate and it will be hard to get any fermenting done at all. 63-64 is a good temp for ales (If a bit on the cold side). You're lucky you can consistently ferment at that temp, I'm looking at getting another fridge so I can have a beer fridge and a fermentation fridge....

Craig5_12 said:

I think you've partly answered your own question. Fermenting at lower temps will result in a slower fermentation. Although if it's too cold the yeast will hybernate and it will be hard to get any fermenting done at all. 63-64 is a good temp for ales (If a bit on the cold side). You're lucky you can consistently ferment at that temp, I'm looking at getting another fridge so I can have a beer fridge and a fermentation fridge....

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With this being a stout, whould these temps be to low or is it ok?

FSR402 said:

With this being a stout, whould these temps be to low or is it ok?

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I'm no expert, but I think you'll probably be OK with a stout. There are some styles (like hefeweizen) where you want to ferment at the upper end of the temperature range so that you get more of the fruity flavors (I think there's a technical term for these flavors, but I forget it). I don't think that's an issue with your stout. Since your gravity is dropping it sounds like your fermentation's moving along, even if it's a little slow. If you want to get it warmer without heating the room, there are other ways. There's a plug-in heating belt that you can wrap around your fermenter (I think they cost around $15). Or maybe you could just wrap some blankets around your fermentor to help keep in the heat that's being generated by the fermentation. I usually put mine in a closet with a space heater that can be set at a certain temp. I think I got the heater at Target for like $15. That way I don't have to heat a whole room.

Good luck!
Bob

It should be perfectly fine. Higher temps will bring out fruity ester production from the yeast, depending on the strain. Lower temps usually translates to a 'cleaner' finish (think about Lagers to help understand this). As long as fermentation is clicking along it should arrive just fine. Some fruity character is good in a Stout, but that is all personal preference. Your fermentation will most likely take a few days longer.

That all being said, if you like the results be prepared to duplicate the ferment temperature next time around!