Contant Temperature Change

[DasSchlebach]

I'm fermenting a Hefe and I believe I read that the yeast I used (WYeast 3068) should be kept between 64-75 degrees however my carboy has been dropping to as low as 58 degrees.

Is this going to "hurt" my beer???

 

[daksin]

You may put your yeast to sleep and they may not want to finish fermenting. You should warm them up. By fermenting cold, you also miss out on a lot of those lovely fruity esters you get from hefeweizen yeasts, which a lot of people would say is the whole reason you use that yeast.

 

[LKABrewer]

You will also suck O2 into your fermenter as it warms and cools.

 

[DasSchlebach]

You may put your yeast to sleep and they may not want to finish fermenting. You should warm them up. By fermenting cold, you also miss out on a lot of those lovely fruity esters you get from hefeweizen yeasts, which a lot of people would say is the whole reason you use that yeast.

That's what I thought, it seems to be pretty active though. I've kept it wrapped up in blankets, any other ideas to keep it warm next time around? I'm sure it's too late to really "save" it I pitched the yeast last Friday night.

 

[scrawbag]

get a large plastic tub..... 15 dollars...... and an aquariam heater 30 dollars...... ( 100watt is good)
these can be set to a specific temp and when it gets cold it turns on and mine does a great job
good beer....priceless

 

[copyright1997]

Here's what I did:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ways-keep-fermentor-warm-during-winter-288604/#post3590310

Works great, and I now have a single temperature control for both heating and cooling.

 

[DasSchlebach]

Both are very intriguing, I'll have to look into both of these to find what would be or efficient for me so I don't have a lot of space where I ferment.

Thanks to both of you.

 

[DasSchlebach]

Now that I've gotten the temp to rise up, should I let it ferment longer? It's been two weeks already, I planned to rack to secondary today but I was thinking of letting it sit longer.

 

[copyright1997]

Now that I've gotten the temp to rise up, should I let it ferment longer? It's been two weeks already, I planned to rack to secondary today but I was thinking of letting it sit longer.

Take a sg reading. If you are at/near the estimated fg level, you are done. If not, wait a couple more days and check again to see if it I'd still dropping.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

get a large plastic tub..... 15 dollars...... and an aquariam heater 30 dollars...... ( 100watt is good)
these can be set to a specific temp and when it gets cold it turns on and mine does a great job
good beer....priceless

^this. you can also lower the temp by adding ice bottles. not that you need to in this case, but for future brews. this simple setup really helps controlling temps either way.:rockin:

 

[DasSchlebach]

Take a sg reading. If you are at/near the estimated fg level, you are done. If not, wait a couple more days and check again to see if it I'd still dropping.

I was aiming for 1.013 and ended on 1.010 so I swapped it out to secondary, gonna let it sit for a week before I bottle it.