Is my beer still ok?

[BigDaddyBeard]

I brewed a 5 gallon batch of Hopslam clone on Sunday, pitched 2 packets of rehydrated S-05 and then put the carboy in the cellar. Checked it last night and it was sitting at 58 and throwing a bubble every 20 seconds or so (I figured the yeast would bump the temp in to the low sixties with active fermentation). Got home tonight and went to the cellar, temp dropped to 48 on the carboy and was still bubbling about the same. I put the carboy into my 10 gallon drink cooler and put 2 wool sweaters over it. Did I hurt my yeast? It a big beer and I don't want to stall out of the gate... HELP PLEASE!

 

[day_trippr]

From multiple accounts, you run the risk of brewing a peach-bomb running US-05 that low. I would at least bring the fermenter up out of the basement to somewhere warmer and try to get it back up in the mid-60s...

Cheers!

 

[BigDaddyBeard]

Ok, will I hurt it if I bring the temp up too quickly? I wrapped it up hoping to get the temp up a little before I brought it up stairs.

 

[day_trippr]

You have a 5+ gallons of beer there, nothing is going to happen quickly

If the yeast were heading for a chilly nap their exothermic output will have been greatly attenuated, so there might not be much "warmth" to conserve with the wrap...

Cheers!

 

[BigDaddyBeard]

Checked it this morning and it was at 50 and bubbling close to every 4-5 seconds. I let it go and will check it again tonight and probably bring it into the house. Thanks for the reassurance.

 

[RonPopeil]

wow! you're lucky you have this issue. you should consider lagering!

if keeping your fermenters warm is an issue consider a small space heater. and/or switching to english yeast might produce more favorable results. most english strains should be relatively cleaner at those low temps.

 

[BigDaddyBeard]

I typically don't have this issue but with that recent cold front it's sucked a lot of heat out of the cellar quick.

 

[RonPopeil]

I'm in the same boat. This batch I have going now is the first one I've ever had at an external temperature below 60F. Because of these temps I've been thinking about trying a weizenbock using kolsch yeast. Maybe use dark wheat and add cocoa nibs in secondary.

 

[BigDaddyBeard]

Brought it up when I got home up to 53 and activity is steady.