fementation too cold?

[amcclai7]

I have had a smoked IPA in the fermenter for about 20 hrs and there are no signs of airlock activity whatsoever. For the first time ever here in Tennessee It is too cold! I live in an old draft apartment and it wont get above 58F. The forecast for the next three days is also terribly cold. I am using safale s-05 (recommended 59-74).

I using a mini fridge with a temp regulator for temperature control. Problem is, it doesn't heat. I do have a small ceramic heater i could attach to the regulator and put in there. This makes me worry about uneven heating of the beer but I think it has to be done. Within the next 3 days it could drop all the way to 52F in here.

What do you think?

 

[StLouBrew]

I'm in the process of trying to finish fermentation on a batch that that requires higher temps. I ended up moving the carboy into a bathroom and putting a space heater in there. The mini fridge might be too confined for a space heater, but a closet or a bathroom might do the trick.

Cheers

 

[kevinb]

I would try to warm it up in the chamber.

Funny thing I just learned in my own chamber how little heat it takes to warm up a fridge a few degrees. I had a small heater in there and it was way too much heat. In my setup, just running a small circulating fan was enough to raise it a few degrees.

 

[Tommyb52]

Put the fermenter in a bucket of water with a submersible 100 watt submersible fish tank water heater. Cheap and easy fix. My Belgian wit beer is starting its 3rd week in the fermenter at a constant 70 degrees. just slowly adjust the temp. a few hours at a time. My basement is 64 degrees and its only going to be 20 degrees tomorrow in NYC.

 

[bigken462]

I don't know if this is the best method or not, but it's worked for me. Without too much effort, I've been able to maintain about 66-68 degrees.

Heating pad on the lowest settings and some reflectix rolled up to make a carboy cozy.

 

[Feldmann]

I just made one of these this weekend. I'm not the craftiest person and it probably took me less than 15 minutes to rig up and cost less than $20.

http://www.brewstands.com/fermentation-heater.html

 

[kenny_d]

I don't know if this is the best method or not, but it's worked for me. Without too much effort, I've been able to maintain about 66-68 degrees.

Heating pad on the lowest settings and some reflectix rolled up to make a carboy cozy.

Replace the reflectix with a hoody, towel and masking tape - that's exactly what I just did to keep my Saison at 80F!

 

[MindenMan]

I have used a heating pad underneath the fermenter, and threw a towel over it. Once the wort gets "warm", the temperature fluctuations are minimal. Remember, it may take 7 or 8 hours to get to target temp, so be patient. It is better to undershoot the temp, than to overshoot and "ruin" your beer.