First homebrew bottled!/fermentation temperature question

So I bottled my first homebrew tonight. After going through the process only once I feel like I learned ALOT about the process, and I have an idea about what not to do next time around.

Even though it is not yet carbonated, it tasted great. I used a true brew oktoberfest kit (oktoberfests are lagers, but this kit uses an ale yeast)

However, it looked a little cloudy.
Also, the room in which I let the beer ferment is rather cold about 55-60 degrees F(the heat in my house does not work very well downstairs).

I guess the only question I have right now is how does temperature affect the fermentation/settling process?

I am aware that the current temperature of my brew room is probably better suited to lager brewing, but most kits utilize ale yeasts(at least from my understanding). I am not quite confident enough to try my own recipe, so I will be sticking with the kit for at least one or two more batches. Can anyone recommend a good kit for me? Is the temperature of my brew room a problem for ale brewing?

ghank15 said:

Also, the room in which I let the beer ferment is rather cold about 55-60 degrees F(the heat in my house does not work very well downstairs).

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I wish I had that problem. I have to put mine in the spare bath tub with ice bottles to keep it around 68-70.

Congrats on the first brew! Cloudiness is normal and your beer should clear up while it conditions in the bottle as long as you give it enough time. As far as temps go, Its almost always better to be on the colder side of things. Your fermentation time will likely be a fair amount slower that if it were in the 70 degree range but you should come away with a better beer because of it. Fermentation actually will actually cause an increase in the temperature inside your fermentation vessel as the yeast do their thing so its likely a few degrees warmer inside your fermenter than what the ambient air temp is.

Good move rolling with some more kits before attempting your own recipe! Its definitely important to get a grasp for the process before trying to concoct your own beer recipe. As far as kit recipes go (although I haven't brewed from any of them myself) I've always been super impressed with the selection at Northern Brewer http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/recipe-kits/extract-kits. Tons of styles to choose from, they've got some really nice descriptions about the profiles of each kit recipes and they seem to put alot of care into what they're doing.

In case you haven't come across it yet, Brewing TV http://www.brewingtv.com/ (who is now a HBT Member) is an online video series that is sponsored by Northern Brewer and a couple of there kits have been developed by one of the hosts.

Also, Welcome to Home Brewing and to HBT!

thanks so much! you are right, that selection is quite impressive.