First brew - temperature problem!

[safemammal]

Hey guys,

I poured my first brew in the fermenting bucket 6 days ago, and put it in a cupboard which was room temp, and for the first couple of days, the thermometer on the bucket read in the mid 60's. Now, with this hideously cold weather, that cupboard and my brew have plunged into the mid 50's over the past few days. It's not feasible to use a space heater, and I really don't have anywhere else to put it. I won't have a solution for the temp problem until Sunday.

My question is, should I leave it in primary for another week if I can get it back up to room temp, or should I go ahead and rack to secondary?

Thanks for the help...

 

[Yooper]

It really depends on whether fermentation is complete or not. What was the OG and what is the SG now?

 

[safemammal]

The OG was 1.05, haven't taken a reading since then...I'm not even sure what the FG should be to be honest...

 

[beersydoesit]

Be patient when things warm up the yeast will finish if it isn't finished now.
It doesn't look done to me.

 

[beersydoesit]

Absent a known FG, it should probably be in the low 1.01x range or lower and
stable for a few days.
If nothing else a stable gravity for three days is a good indicator

 

[Fat Guy Brewing]

Its not like its going to be ruined or anything. You can estimate FG based on the attenuation of the yeast. If the yeast is 70% attenuation, you would take .70 X 50 (1.050 minus the 1.0) to get 35. Then 50-35 is 15 for a FG of 1.015. Just wait a few days until it warms up, then start taking gravity readings to see if the readings stay the same and if its close to where it should be for FG.

 

[enderwig]

Pull it out of the cupboard and spend the next 3 days sitting on the kitchen floor hugging the fermenter to provide heat.
Joking aside, I'd warm it up any way I could, if that means an extra week in primary, that won't hurt it a bit.