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masskrug

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I've been fermenting an ale (Safale 05) for 10 days now. My temperature readings for the cooler have been 60-70' which is great. The problem is my probe is at the top of the cooler and I never considered measuring the temperature of the water (Idiotic!)

Long story short, the ALE has been fermenting at 45'-55' for 10 days. I just popped the lid; nice krausen on top, hydrometer reading at 1.030 (O.G. 1.060), it smelled wonderful and tasted fantastic. I expect a F.G. of ~1.015

Questions: If I bring the temperature up, can I save this batch, or has it been sitting dormant too long (10 days). Do I need to re-pitch?

Thanks for getting back to me before I rack this to my porcelain carboy.

On a positive note, I can lager in this cooler. LOL!
 
Dude how about letting the beer sit for another 2 to 3 weeks before doing anything, unless the gravity readings have stopped for the past 3 days... Bubbles in the airlock less krousen etc are not signs that the beer is done fermenting, I always leave my beer still without touching it for a full 30'days before opening the carboy, 100% of the time i'm at FG and the flavors are very blended and ready to bottle or keg, I never secondary my beer for me it's a waste of time and a higher risk of infection and especialy a huge beer loss :) My beer is as clear as a coors light, so racking to secondary for me is useless, form primary to keg or bottle :) If your realy scared of the trub that you can suck up off the bottom " because YES the yeast cake is going to be big and thick" just transfer a bit less and that's it :) You will still have more gallons than if you rack to secondary then keg :)

Just my 2 cents :)
 
It's fine. I've done plenty of ales at really low temps and US-05 will chug along just fine. It may still be going, just slowly. I'd warm it up a bit, gently swirl the yeast up and give it a couple more days.
 
Is the temp of the water at 45-55 or is the temp of the beer at this? My point is that your beer is generally 5-8 degrees warmer than the fermentation chamber. If the cooler is 55 than your beer is probably 60+, which while low, if fine for 05. The krausen is a giveaway that you are within or close to the range you need to be. Give it longer than usual and then check your readings
 
JonM: I did just that. I'm getting (slow) bubbling in the airlock, so hopefully they woke up. I questioned if the Safale 05 could survive that long at that temperature. I'll check her again Sunday.

Jesseroberge: The only reason I popped the top today was to dry hop, I intended to ferment for another week or two. Thanks for the "30 day" tip. I will use this knowledge on my next batch.
 
Is the temp of the water at 45-55 or is the temp of the beer at this? My point is that your beer is generally 5-8 degrees warmer than the fermentation chamber. If the cooler is 55 than your beer is probably 60+, which while low, if fine for 05. The krausen is a giveaway that you are within or close to the range you need to be. Give it longer than usual and then check your readings

The BEER has been at 45-55. I gently stirred it, am warming it, and the airlock is (slowly) coming to life!
 
The airlock s not and inaction of fermentation. You are warming it and as you do the air and liquid expands which creates a positive pressure inside your vessel. Just leave it alone and trust that the yeast know how to do their job.

masskrug said:
The BEER has been at 45-55. I gently stirred it, am warming it, and the airlock is (slowly) coming to life!
 
Just an update; I warmed the cooler to 60-65 for a three days. I achieved my F.G. today (1.015). Dry hopped and will bottle next week. :)
 
You got the decimal in the wrong place. It's expresses as 1.015. And it sounds like at 45-55 that the 05 had gone dormant or close to it. Other ale yeasts would def be dormant ime. I had cooper's ale yeast down to 58-60F & it went dormant & settled out. Warmed it to 62F,& swirled it up. It started to come back to life,& slowly started fermenting at a slow,more normal rate at 64F. It seemed most comfortable at around 65-66F. Ale yeasts generally aren't designed to go down into the 50's & ferment normally ime thus far.
 
Just an update: This beer did survive. I aged it for 4 weeks in the bottle. It is still a little "green," but it turned out great.
 
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