ugggg too cold

True Brew Amber kit instructed to put 3 gal of cold water in fermenter, chill wort to under 90. Did this, added a little more water to get closer tp 5 gal, and the temp in the fermenter is now around 55°!

Heating boiling some water to top it off to 5 gal but there's not much room left. Dammit.

Going to pitch Safale S-05

EDIT: added a few cups of boiled water and gently rocked bucket. Got temp up around 60, so I pitched S-05 dry, one packet plus a little extra from a previous packet (which had been sealed and in the freezer until this morning.). So likely 13 g of S-05

OG 1.044

Still need to get an adhesive thermometer for the bucket, but my 1st 5 gal batch is in the fermenter. May have pitched too cool (60-62), so it might get a slow start. will place some hot water bottles on it if need be. Air lock is on. Need to get larger tubing to fit over the inner opening of the lock if I need a blow off.

The OG of 1.044 was at around 55°, which makes sense considering the ingredients. Steeped some 135L dark crystal (not from the kit), used the kit's 2 lb of Muntons DME light extract, can of Munton 3.3 lb amber liquid extract (half in the boil, have at flameout), also added .5 lb of Briess Sparkling Amber DME. 1 oz of First gold (from kit) hops for about 30 min boil, 1 oz Centennial (not from the kit) at 7 minutes. Chilled the wort in an ice bath and added cold (too cold) water in the fermenter, hence the low temp initially in the bucket.

Now it's wait and see.

Also found out NO ONE (2 little kids, one wife) likes the smell in the house... looks like I'll be using the propane burner outside in the future.

If you don't have any type of temperature control (fridge, tub of water, etc) for your fermenter, 60-62F is exactly where you want it. active fermentation will raise the internal temp 4-10F so its gunna put you where you want it.

I usually pitch 4-5 degrees below fermentation temp. You'll be fine.

burning propane in the house is not good

dcp27 said:

If you don't have any type of temperature control (fridge, tub of water, etc) for your fermenter, 60-62F is exactly where you want it. active fermentation will raise the internal temp 4-10F so its gunna put you where you want it.

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Winter here on the MA/NH border, so our heat keeps ambient around 66-67 during the day, a few degrees cool overnight. I put the bucket in a larger bucket, draped a towel over it, and placed bottles filled with hot water inside the big bucket around the fermenter. Will pick up an adhesive thermometer tomorrow so I can have a better idea, but I think I will be ok. Just wish I hadn't dropped the temp as much as I did with the cold water/cooled wort combo.

jimlin said:

Also found out NO ONE (2 little kids, one wife) likes the smell in the house... looks like I'll be using the propane burner outside in the future.

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Bklanz said:

burning propane in the house is not good

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+1 if you're using thepropane burner inside the house now... I don't blame them for complaining.

ChshreCat said:

+1 if you're using thepropane burner inside the house now... I don't blame them for complaining.

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Bunch o smart asses.

Actually, the pot I used on the stove really was barely big enough to handle the brew. My father-inlaw's propane burner (for his steamer pot for lobsters, etc) will work perfectly. May need to get a new (big) pot though.

Sometime yesterday boiler for heat & hot water stopped working in my small condo building. Gas company had to fix something outside and I was without heat for over 24 hours. I have a batch in my primary and it dropped to 55-56F (Nottingham) and I had to replace with warmer water to raise the temp. I am using 2 readings - one from floating thermometer and one from digital probe attached near liquid / krausen line (temp is 1-3) degrees higher than floating thermometer reading. The problem has been finally fixed so now back to monitoring so that it stays around 60F.

Too cold indeed.

Pivzavod said:

Sometime yesterday boiler for heat & hot water stopped working in my small condo building. Gas company had to fix something outside and I was without heat for over 24 hours. I have a batch in my primary and it dropped to 55-56F (Nottingham) and I had to replace with warmer water to raise the temp. I am using 2 readings - one from floating thermometer and one from digital probe attached near liquid / krausen line (temp is 1-3) degrees higher than floating thermometer reading. The problem has been finally fixed so now back to monitoring so that it stays around 60F.

Too cold indeed.

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Just had our basement furnace (heats the 1st floor) have the pilot go out. Newer model that you can't manually reignite with a match. Sat night. Thankfully the second floor zone is handled by a furnace in the attic. About 24°*outside tonight. The kids will sleep warmly but the first floor's gonna be chilly in the am. Hopefully we can get someone to service it tomorrow, but being a Sunday, hard to say (and they will likely charge us plenty on a Sunday).

Am I the only one that has electric heaters you can plug in at times like these?

ChshreCat said:

Am I the only one that has electric heaters you can plug in at times like these?

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We've got a small one. Ain't gonna do much on our first floor which is pretty open, though. And the beer is in the second floor bathroom right now. Checked this morning and the airlock is bubbling every 3-4 seconds right now.

Gas fireplace is on in the 1st fl living room, as the kids refuse to stay up in their bedrooms where it's warm!

Got a tech coming to check the electric ignition of the furnace which isn't working. Sunday = time and a half of course.