Stuck fermentation

So it's cold in New England but I refuse to turn on my heat till mid October. I have a carboy of porter that was fermenting away just fine with a good 4 inches of krausen, active ticking on the airlock. Had it down the basement to keep it in the mid 60 degree range.

Then it got cold and I checked it and the foam had settled and no activity. It was at 52 degrees. Brought it upstairs. Next morning, not much happening...a tick or two over a five minute period. The room temp in the upstairs was 62 degrees. I duct taped a heating pad to it....but it's auto shut off and I left for work. Even colder now in the house -- 56 degrees. I have the carboy in a box with the heating pad and blankets stuffed in and wrapping around the outside.

Should I be worried...really work to get the temp back up and hold it?

Pitch more yeast??

I think I can gin something up to get the temp up but it's been between 56 - 62 degrees for a couple of days now.

I have not taken a gravity reading yet...it is in the primary. Maybe rack to secondary and get it warmed up???

Yeah Im stuck with exactly the same problem, except a dopplebock. I've tried a few things like raising temp, pitching more yeast and nutrients. I hope someone has the heads up here aye

sounds to me like you are doing all the right things. Try to get the temp up with your box setup into the 60's again.
Stuck fermentations are pretty rare and cannot be determined without taking multiple hydrometer readings over a couple of days.
There is no need for you to be worried or pitch more yeast at this point. Just slowly get the temp up.

In the future as we are coming into winter, you may try getting a large cooler that fits your carboy, filling the cooler up with some water, and putting an acquarium heater in there to hold your temps through fermentation.

Thanks phatuna! Good tip. I think the yeast is fine and seems to be going -- just very slowly. Does a very slow fermentation have any negative side-effects?

Not that I know of, but others will have to chime in on that one.