Is she stuck?

[davidg410]

Hi,

This is my first post on HBT, so i'd like to say hey!

After reading through most of the stickies on here, I started my first ever brew on midnight the morning of January 6th (Northern Brewers American Wheat Extract).

At 16 hours in I had about 1 to 2 inches of kraeusen and the air lock was bubbling strong. My place was at 70 degrees.

A cold front came through and knocked my place down to 64. It is now back up to about 68, but at the 84 hour mark, the kraeusen is going away and the bubbling has become much less frequent.

Take a look >

Do you think i stuck the fermentation or is this normal?

On a side note: Being that I live in Texas, it is warm here 8 of the 12 months. Are there any yeast strains that prefer warmer temps? It would cost me an arm and a leg to hold a steady 70 degrees or less.

Thanks!

 

[danielinva]

Only way you're going to know for sure is to check your gravity with a hydrometer. That being said, it would not be surprising if your beer is done given the high fermentation temperatures. If your place was around 70, the beer was likely closer to the 75-80 range.

You could probably do a search to come up with some good warm weather yeast/beer styles.

 

[Crazytwoknobs]

Looks completely normal. Any insulation (bedsheets, sweaters) that you can put on it will help keep the temperature from changing as much (especially early in fermentation).

Temperature control can be achieved through many many methods, I'm sure some other Texans on the board can help you with that.


Btw, it was -1*F here this morning. I'm suuuper jealous.

 

[bdleedahl]

yeah it's perfectly fine, liquids retain their heat a lot better than you may think too. if the room temp drops 6 or 7 degrees it will take many more hours for the beer to cool down to those temperatures as well.

 

[davidg410]

Thanks for the quick replies!

I've had the carboy wrapped up in a jacket from the start, both for temperature retention and to block light. I just attached a digital thermometer, used to use in a lizard tank, to the side of the carboy. It's showing 71.2.

It could be done, but i think i'll be patient and wait at least a week before i test it.

Any Texas or southern brewers know of high temp yeasts or cheap easy ways to keep temps down in high heat?