Concerned about new batch

[GatorBrew1]

Hello gang-
I know that watching the airlock is not "conclusive" evidence that fermentation is taking place, but it is "some" indication that things are on track. New batch never did have an aggressive airlock, like my previous three batches. The original SG was 1.062 pitched at 70* on 12-5-12. Today the SG reads 1.020 (fish tank temp strip says 70* on outside of bucket). Does it look like everything is on track? Really concerned about this batch.

I made a bone head mistake and left the bucket outside one night while trying to get it to 66* or so. I fell asleep and left it outside, during a pretty chilly night here (50* ish).

Guess I will just continue to check the SG until it stops, I have no idea what my taget SG is. Any advice?

Extract
1 lb Fuggle Pellet Hops (4.2%)
1 lb Nottingham English Ale yeast
6 lb Briess dark DME
1 lb Muntons Chocolate malt
1 lb Flaked barley (unmalted)
.25 lb Muntons roasted barley
.25 lb Dingemans special B Belgian dark crystal

I also added 1 lb of dark brown sugar (never did that before)
Don't know why but I put Bacardi rum in the airlock. Bad Idea? Seemed like a cool idea at the moment.

Thanks guys for any help. Not too familiar with BrewTarget yet.

 

[smagee]

Everything sounds fine/normal. You may get another 5 points or so out of it, but you're getting close to where I'd expect it to finish. Check again in a couple days and see if it's moved.

Rum/other liquor in the airlock is fine; some folks use vodka, some starsan, some just plain water. Any of them will work.

 

[RM-MN]

i think I might try to warm that beer up a couple more degrees and give the fermenter a gentle swirl to rouse the yeast. That might help it finish lower.

 

[mitchar19]

You may have sent the yeast into a dormant state by dropping the temp so low. I agree that you should allow the carboy to warm up to room temp and maybe rouse the yeast slightly.

 

[DeRoux's Broux]

give it a swirl and let it settle for a few days. it'll be fine.

 

[Dan]

You should be fine. I recently brewed a 10 gallon batch of pale ale, (OG was 1.065) and split into two fermenting buckets. Left them in the garage and at night it gets pretty chilly, low 50's. One of the buckets I lost the lid for so used a 10g round rubbermaid cooler lid. Obviously not airtight. The other had a blow off tube. It heartily chugged away the first two days, kept bubbling slowly through day 3-5, day 6-7 I took gravity readings and they were both 1.012, so brought them into a 67 degree house for the past few weeks. They both taste pretty good, the lower temp didn't seem to hurt anything. I'll find out for sure once I get them kegged and carbed up.

I believe your beer will be just fine!

 

[pohldogg]

With a pound of yeast I'd have expected more activity too

 

[hercher]

You are fine. Just leave it be, it will finish on its own. Take another reading in a couple days; I suspect you'll find it has dropped a little further. I think you need about another week in the fermenter to finish fermentation, and let the yeast clean things up a bit.

 

[lumpher]

a lb of yeast and a lb of fuggle hops? check the recipe

 

[GatorBrew1]

Thanks guys for the replies. I guess I'll just watch it for a few more days (maybe a week or two). Hopefully it will be ok. I didn't catch what I was typing on the original post. I didn't add a pound of yeast or fuggle hops. Haha
Thanks again for the reassurance.

Checked the recipe and it was 1 oz of hops and 11gm of Yeast. Haha