Moving the Carboy during fermentation.

So I brewed a new beer on Saturday. It was a light colored ale with an OG of 1.056 at 72 degrees. Let is start fermenting in the wash room since I hadn't set my fermenting freezer up yet. I got the freezer with the override ready to go on Memorial day (48 hours later) and moved the fermenting beer over to the freezer (which is set at 70 degrees)

Prior to moving, I had a little over a bubble a second--it was on it's way down from it's peak bubbling. Ok, I got it in the freezer with no sloshing and reasonably little agitation. The problem is the bubbling has stopped completely. Is this a problem? It is reasonably high gravity, I'm sure there is plenty of sugar left. Does moving during a fermentation damage the process?

Thanks for the insight. I appreciate all the help.

I've moved carboys during primary and not had any issues. What yeast did you use? At 70 - 72 it might have been a quick ferment. Also, while moving the carboy you may have unseated the airlock seal. It happens quite often where people don't see any airlock activity. I'd say let it ride, check it this weekend to see where the gravity is.

+1 on the airlock seal coming loose, that was my first thought too.

There's no way you are going to have stopped the fermentation by jostling it... if anything that would make it go faster (if I have to move a carboy, I often see a little burst of extra activity after that). Moving to a location with a lower temperature can stop fermentation, but 70F is not low, so that seems unlikely.

BainbridgeBrewer said:

I've moved carboys during primary and not had any issues. What yeast did you use? At 70 - 72 it might have been a quick ferment. Also, while moving the carboy you may have unseated the airlock seal. It happens quite often where people don't see any airlock activity. I'd say let it ride, check it this weekend to see where the gravity is.

Click to expand...

Thanks again. It was a Wyeast Cal Ale...don't recall the number and I don't have my notes. I'll take a gravity this weekend. I was hoping for about 1.018 to 1.022 FG...we will see. It'll still need a few days to ferment beyond the test date. Fingers crossed

Now that you have a fermenting chamber, you might think about setting it closer to 62F. Because...the action of fermenting raises internal temps well above the ambient temps. If you set the freezer to 70, it might very well ferment at 76. Too warm for Wyeast California ale.

I ferment all my beers in a controlled water bath at 64F (better heat dissipation in water) and they take about 4-5 days for the bubbles to slow way down. Then I leave them another month before I do anything else.

your process may vary, your results may vary, too!

Hang Glider said:

Now that you have a fermenting chamber, you might think about setting it closer to 62F. Because...the action of fermenting raises internal temps well above the ambient temps. If you set the freezer to 70, it might very well ferment at 76. Too warm for Wyeast California ale.

I ferment all my beers in a controlled water bath at 64F (better heat dissipation in water) and they take about 4-5 days for the bubbles to slow way down. Then I leave them another month before I do anything else.

your process may vary, your results may vary, too!

Click to expand...

Interesting thought. I hadn't thought of that. This is about my 15th batch since I started brewing in April last year. And this was a twist I hadn't expected.

I started in 2001, and when I finally paid close attention to temp control (2005?), my beers got amazingly better. - my $.02

Hang Glider said:

Now that you have a fermenting chamber, you might think about setting it closer to 62F. Because...the action of fermenting raises internal temps well above the ambient temps. If you set the freezer to 70, it might very well ferment at 76. Too warm for Wyeast California ale.

I ferment all my beers in a controlled water bath at 64F (better heat dissipation in water) and they take about 4-5 days for the bubbles to slow way down. Then I leave them another month before I do anything else.

your process may vary, your results may vary, too!

Click to expand...

Is that really true in a fermenting chamber? I would think that as long as the fermenter itself took up a non-trivial fraction of the chamber, the temp would be pretty much uniform throughout...??

Water based - the temps will be more similar, but in an air "bath" - the internal activity of the yeast certainly has an easier time to raise temps. A probe-type thermometer held against the side of the fermenter, with a block of foam to insulate it from the rest of the chamber will tell a reasonably good story on how your process is working.