Reactivating yeast?!

[NativeSun]

I making a milk chocolate coconut Stout. I added my yeast and it pitched successfully and it started to bubble after several hours.

I noticed on Friday that it was getting to be too cold in my basement and the temperature Was at or went below the 60°. The fermentation temperature for the yeast is 60-72.

I have the primary bucket sitting in a kettle that has water in it to try to balance and regulate the temperature of the wort

.

I’ve changed the water around the bucket to make it hotter, hoping that it will raise the internal temperature of the wort over 60°.

Am I on the right track for reactivating the yeast or if not what do I have to do?

 

[Pappers_]

I would think warm water in your kettle wouljd pretty quickly adjust to the ambient temperature, but I don't know that. You could move the fermenter (without the kettle of water) out of your basement and maybe find a warm closet and keep it there for a week or so, to help the yeast wake up and finish whatever work they have left.

 

[bucketnative]

How do you know the yeast are presently inactive? If the temperature in your basement was 60 °F, then the actual fermentation temperature of the beer was likely a few degrees higher. Even though you are below the recommended fermentation range, the yeast don't just stop working, they will work slower. Maybe the flavor profile changes slightly.

 

[RM-MN]

Depending on when you pitched the yeast the beer might have completed fermentation. In that case you want to warm the beer up to let the yeast have a better chance of cleaning up the intermediate compounds. Temperatures into the mid to upper 70's would help them.

On the other hand, the yeast will keep on working at temperature below that 60 degree mark but much slower so what might take a day at low 70's might take a week in the cooler temps.

 

[NativeSun]

Thanks for the replies!

For more info the refractometer reading was 13 (1.053) and should drop to 7 (1.014) for the OG-FG to be completed. It’s at 10.5 but should have been closer to 7 by now.

I think the yeast is inactive bc the readings haven’t dropped since Thursday. I put a towel under the kettle to stop the cold ground from affecting it.

I’m going to keep raising the temp of the water around the bucket and hopefully by Wed it will be ready.

Need the beer ready for NYE!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Thanks for the replies!

For more info the refractometer reading was 13 (1.053) and should drop to 7 (1.014) for the OG-FG to be completed. It’s at 10.5 but should have been closer to 7 by now.

Are you correcting your FG readings? Refractometer readings in the presence of alcohol are not reliable otherwise.

 

[NativeSun]

Are you correcting your FG readings? Refractometer readings in the presence of alcohol are not reliable otherwise.

I use this website and haven’t hit a snag yet in previous brews

https://www.brewersfriend.com/refractometer-calculator/

 

[NativeSun]

Temperature is at 65 now. I’ve seen it bubble a few times and the air lock is still pushing the water.

My next question is...can I add cocoa nibs while it’s fermenting if it hasn’t gotten done by Wednesday?

 

[RM-MN]

Temperature is at 65 now. I’ve seen it bubble a few times and the air lock is still pushing the water.

My next question is...can I add cocoa nibs while it’s fermenting if it hasn’t gotten done by Wednesday?

That might not be warm enough to get the yeast started again. Another 10 degrees higher might help.

Bubble in the airlock are likely from the temperature change, not yeast activity. At this point the yeast probably are not producing more CO2. Read this short article about the yeast.

http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

 

[NativeSun]

That might not be warm enough to get the yeast started again. Another 10 degrees higher might help.

Bubble in the airlock are likely from the temperature change, not yeast activity. At this point the yeast probably are not producing more CO2. Read this short article about the yeast.

http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

Can I add another packet of yeast? If the temp raise doesn’t work?

 

[RM-MN]

It won't hurt to add another packet of yeast but it probably won't help either. Your beer has lots of yeast in it already.

 

[NativeSun]

It won't hurt to add another packet of yeast but it probably won't help either. Your beer has lots of yeast in it already.

I went to my local brew store. They said to try and transfer to another bucket, add another yeast packet, and yeast energizer to the wort (5- .5tsp of it).

Temp is stable at 74.

Hopefully I should see a result by Sunday.