fermentation temperature

I brewed my first batch yesterday and am nervous, like any new father I put my fermenter in a spare bedroom that usually hovers between 60-70 F, this morning when I woke up the thermometer on the side of the bucket was reading 57. I have had no bubbles, and when I peaked inside it didn't appear any krausen had formed. I have noticed a slight change in pressure on the bucket, because when I started push on the lid a little didn't make much difference, and after a few hours pushing on the lid a little makes the airlock bounce up and down. I moved the bucket to a warmer room. I guess I'm curious if you guys think I put the yeast to sleep and if so do you think warming it up slightly will bring it back to life? I am using US-05 and the fermintis pdf says 59 is the low end of the optimal temperature, so it wasn't that much colder. It has also been less than 24 hours, so I don't know if it just hasn't had time yet or not.

Yea, your yeasts were inactive at that temp. Move it to 60's and it will pick up substantially. No harm done. It might still take a day or two to get started.

Grab a beer and start planning your next one.

RDWHAHB

i saw your post...it amazes me how 2 dif. people in 2 dif. states can be having the same problem at tha same time.....

First of all, give it more time. It's common for there to be no signs of fermentation for a couple of days. And by give it more time, I mean don't open the bucket. Just leave it. You can check in on it to see if the airlock is bubbling, but that's really not a reiable indicator of what's going on inside.

Regarding the temperature, if your room is 60F-70F then your beer will eventually get to that, just from the laws of physics. Actually, once fermentation starts your beer temperature will be slightly above room temperature. Was your top-off water very cold? If you cooled your wort to the mid 50Fs it can take quite a while for 5 gallons to raise ten degrees. Also what is the actual temperature of the room? There is the possibility that the stick-on thermometer on your bucket is defective. Can you put a thermometer you know is reliable in the room?

While I admit to having used a heating pad to warm up a cold fermenter, I can't recommend doing this. I did it back in my naive beginner days. I would never do it now as I know the potential damage to the beer from high fermentation temperature is great, while there is no potential damage from fermenting a little cool. If the room really is too cold a better solution would be to put a space heater in there to get it up to the mid-60Fs.

The room just actually got down into the 50s last night after an extremely cold night. I moved my fermenter to another room, which has slowly pulled the temp up to the low 60s. When I pitched the yeast my wort was between 70 and 75, so it cooled off because the room it was in just got colder than I had expected. The floors in my house also happen to be hard wood and fairly cold, is it a good idea to get it off of the floor?

I've got bubbles!!

A stick-on thermometer on the side of the fermenter is very handy. They're like aquarium stick-on thermometers. Sometimes the beer is much warmer than the ambient air temperature, and the important thing is the wort temperature anyway, not the air temperature. If the beer is too warm, you can set it on the basement floor or put it in a cooler room. If the beer is too cold, you can move it to a warmer place. Home brew stores have those thermometers for just about $2, but you can also get them at Wal-Mart or the like since they sell aquariums. They are one of the handiest items you can own, since fermentation temperature is so crucial in brewing.

That's what I have. It is reading 64/65 right now and apparently that was just what the doctor ordered to get things rolling, almost 24hrs after pitching the yeast. Now I'm bored and looking for another beer to brew!

smdoty said:

Now I'm bored and looking for another beer to brew!

Click to expand...

LOL, welcome to the club!!


Rev.

Good topic.

I have a programmable thermostat in my home that drops temps down to 60 at night while I'm sleeping and at work and bumps the temps up to 65-68 while awake at home. I'm actually checking temperatures in different parts of my home by moving a thermometer around. In the past few days I've noticed that my basement ranges from 59-65 degrees depending how close the thermometer is to the boiler since the boiler itself gives off heat. Obviously, the further it is from the floor, the warmer it is.

I'm thinking these temps may be OK for ales, but will regular 5-6 degree fluctuations in temperature screw up yeast activity?

Its pretty cold in PA right now, but as things get warm in the summer I may have problems finding a cool enough place to ferment. I have a mini fridge that will house a fermenting bucket and maybe even a carboy with little modification. I'm thinking about getting a temperature controller to use with the fridge if I need cooler temps. I also have some old solid pine cabinets just sitting in the basement from a recent kitchen remodel. I'm thinking I could make a nice fermenting cabinet out of them. I knew I kept those cabinets for a reason In the meantime, I'm crossing my fingers that I have good temperature ranges for ale fermentation in my home.