11 Degree Temp Drop During Fermentation - Brown Ale

[cander38]

I have my first batch in my fermenter right now and am about 55 hours in. I pitched my yeast at 70* early Friday morning and the temperature rose to 77* within 12 hours. Someone on here suggested putting a wet towel over my primary with a fan blowing on it. I did this and the temp dropped and stabilized at 72* for 24+ hours.

This morning I re wet my towel and noticed the temp has dropped to 66* and my airlock is now bubbling only 3 times in 60 seconds. I assume the temp drop is from a slow down in fermentation, but is such a large temperature change (11 degrees) in less than 48 hours going to negatively affect my beer? Should I have done something to try to keep my temp more stable, or is this just natural as fermentation slows?

 

[BradleyBrew]

The temperature will naturally drop to the ambient temperature once the fermentation slows down. Also, your beer is probably still fermenting warmer then what the temperature strip states. Those things are notorious for being incorrect especially when directly contacted by a wet towel with evaporation taking place. 11 degrees is a pretty big temperature swing during the primary fermentation stage. It may or may not have produced "off" flavors. In the end I'm sure it will still be tasty. Just try to keep it a constant temperature.

 

[DrJerryrigger]

It's trash dump it!.... But really, don't worry about it, you're clearly watching it too closely if you know all this data. Too hot isn't good as they yest will make esters you might not want, but just forget about it for a few weeks, it'll be fine. If you really want to do something to help it swirl up the yeast every other day after the first week. That will help the yeast find the stuff they want to eat, and "clean up after themselves".