Cold snap!

So I'm brewing a Sierra Nevada clone at 1.060. Fermenting in my outside fridge I usually keep my beers at 64 degrees. Well, the weather changed drastically a few nights ago and when I went out to check on my beer, the temp on the plastic carboy said 56! The krausen had disappeared and no bubbling going on and it's only 6days old! I brought it inside to warm it back up to room temp. Ill check the gravity when it reached 64. Should I be worried?

 

I would not be too worried. It might be mostly done at this point anyway. Take a gravity read. If it's not at terminal gravity, bring it back in, warm it up to 65 and try another reading in a few days.

 

After 6 days it's quite possible the primary stages of fermentation is simply done.
If not, the worst that would've happened (I think) is your yeast will have gone dormant. Once it warms back up, take a gravity reading and see where you're at. If you're gravity is still high, it should finish off on it's own once you warm it up, or if you're worried try giving it a very gentle stir (you don't want to get any oxygen in there at this point) to get some of the yeast that's settled down back into suspension and it should finish off just fine I believe.

If you're going to be fermenting your beer that way moving forward, look into something like an STC-1000. I'll be making my own fermentation chamber in the coming months and plan on getting something like that, as it can either warm up or cool down your chamber (of course, you'll also need to get something which can heat things up, such as a heat belt, or some people use lightbulbs of some sort).

 

I agree that after 6 days,initial fermentation is likely done. By the way,I renamed it initial fermentation,since many people don't secondary anymore,that calling it primary fermentation might be missleading. besides it's being a descriptore for the "initial" or begining,more active part of fermentation. People using a single stage fermentation system nowadays makes my term more descriptive,imo.
So just warm it up to mid 60's & swirl it gently to get some yeast back in suspension. It took mine about 24 hours to show visible signes of fermentation again.

 

Initial fermentation...nice. I'm going to steal that.

 

warmed it back up in the house and took a reading. It is at 1.010. Transferred to secondary on 1oz of cascade and will pull it off to the keg next week. Thanks for the responses!

 

You're welcome. I hope it comes out tasty! Dry hopping cascade is always nice.

 

Well, I must say it turned out perfect. Took it to a local brewfest and won Peoples Choice Best Beer 2013 with it competing against 10 other all grain brewers!! The 5 gal was pouring foam by 2.5 hrs! Great kit and am glad I added the dry hop ands 1lb DME steps!