Help! I pitched yeast at 60 deg

Ok first of all, I used an imperial oatmeal stout recipe and the OG ended up at 1.054, which is far lower than I expected, any tips on efficiency to get a higher OG? The recipe is as follows.

11 lbs. Pale Malt Extract
1 lb. Brewers Oats
1/4 lb. Chocolate Malt
1/4 lb. Black Patent
3/4 lb. Roasted Barley
1 oz. Northern Brewer Hops (boil)
1 oz. Fuggle Hops (mid boil)
1 oz. Fuggle Hops (late boil)
Irish ale yeast

Now the main problem I am posting about is when i pitched the yeast the wort in the fermenter was 60 degrees (guess i cooled it down waay too much). But i had no means of heating it back up to 70 so am i going to be ok?!?! Pls help.

BTW this is my third home brew the first two were a dubbel wit and an ipa both very successful .

The cooler temp won't have killed the yeast.

As the brew warms up it should acivate the yeast and it's not that much of a drop. If it's the WY 1084 yeast it has an active fermentation range of 62 -72 F. It will probably work on either side of that range too. Just put a blanket over it and leave it somewhere a bit warmer. Better than pitching too hot.

Whoa, first off if this was a 5 gallon batch there is no possible way your O.G could be that low since you are using extract. Chances are you didn't mix it well enough - nothing to worry about. Also, you only have to worry about efficiency if you are doing AG or partial mash. Secondly, pitching at 60F is not really a problem. It might take a little while for the yeast to get going, but when they do the temperature will rise considerably. I would wait for fermentation to get going and then think about keeping your ferment temp around 65F for 3-5 days. Don't worry, all will be fine.

I wouldn't worry too much...I normally pitch my ale yeast around 60-62 degrees. Give it some time, RDWHAHB

Wow thanks so much for the fast replies you guys are awesome!

I put a warm fur lined jacket over the Carboy than a blanket ontop of that for good measure. So all should be well there.

Now one more question on the OG. Yes maybe I did not shake it around enough in the carboy before taking a reading. Will it mix itself together? And does anyone have an estimate on what the OG should typically be around for this recipe? I got it from my local homebrew shop and they did not say. I want to be able to tell my taste testers how much ABV this heavy baby contains!

unforgiven said:

Wow thanks so much for the fast replies you guys are awesome!

I put a warm fur lined jacket over the Carboy than a blanket ontop of that for good measure. So all should be well there.

Now one more question on the OG. Yes maybe I did not shake it around enough in the carboy before taking a reading. Will it mix itself together? And does anyone have an estimate on what the OG should typically be around for this recipe? I got it from my local homebrew shop and they did not say. I want to be able to tell my taste testers how much ABV this heavy baby contains!

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Hmm according to Beersmith your O.G. should of been 1.091....did you mash the grains? Or did you just steep them?

I steeped them in a mesh bag and than squeezed out as much of the juicy goodness as i could. Mashing means rinsing with hot water? Should i have done this? And would not doing this really drop my OG that much?

unforgiven said:

I steeped them in a mesh bag and than squeezed out as much of the juicy goodness as i could. Mashing means rinsing with hot water? Should i have done this? And would not doing this really drop my OG that much?

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Next time....do not squeeze!!! It could extract some undesirable flavors from the grains. Mashing is the process of converting the starches in the grains to fermentable sugars. Basically you soak the grains in 150 degree water for about an hour. Then you sparge (hot water rinse) the grains.

To answer your question, no, if you got zero fermentable sugers from the grains, your O.G. would still be 1.071