restart fermentation

[746d]

Hey all, first time poster here. I'm on my sixth batch, and so far things have gone well enough. Last Sunday, I brewed a 5 gallon batch of Brewers Best's double IPA. It came with a single packet of Safale 05, and specifically said not to rehydrate. After I pitched, I took the primary to the basement where I've done all my batches.

I wasn't really thinking about it, but my basement was only about 58°, way too low for this yeast. 3 days later, I still hadn't had any airlock activity, so I realized the error of my ways and brought the primary upstairs where it is sitting in a 68° closet. I got some good airlock activity for a day or so, but then it dropped off to nothing. Did I kill it by leaving it in the wort at too low a temperature? Anything I can do to kick start it, like adding another packet? I really don't want to need to dump the whole batch.

Thanks in advance!

 

[RM-MN]

Your yeast are doing their job just fine. The cooler start slowed the activity down so you didn't see the airlock bubble, probably due to a slight leak that let the CO2 escape without going through the airlock. They had done their reproduction before you warmed the beer up so it didn't take them long to chew through the remaining sugars. Here's a better explanation of what goes on with the yeast except in my brewing world it always takes longer than this states. http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

The only way to know for sure just where your fermentation is now it to use your hydrometer. It's pretty likely that all you need to do is let the beer sit for a few more days so the yeast can deal with intermediate products and drop out.

 

[Hoppity]

Agreed. A single pack of S05 should handle a 5G batch unless it had a really high OG. Check out mrmalty.com

 

[746d]

Great, thanks! I'll take a reading later today and see how we're sitting.

 

[Toga]

Just a heads up 05 will ferment just fine at 58 degrees. Now that you have warmed it up just leave it sit another week or three to clean up and clear up then keg or bottle.

 

[1977Brewer]

Thanks to my delightful North Texas weather, both of my S-05 batches started their life in the high 50's, ramped up to 73 within three days, and got a nice cold crash the last week. I need temp control badly, but God wanted these two to be drinkable. He loves me, and wants me to be happy.

 

[746d]

Thanks, Toga, I looked up the spec sheet for this year and see that you're right. Not sure how I got in my head that it was too low. I probably just assumed that since I didn't see any activity in the airlock until the wort warned up a bit.

 

[746d]

Finally took a measurement today after 9 days in the primary. The beer is very cloudy, but the SG is right down where it should be (1.017 or so), so I'm in good shape. Thanks for the advice, all.