New brewer!

[atearpak]

I am new to brewing and I was trying to figure out some answers by reading out other threads. I have my fermenter in my garage and I'm afraid that it might be too cold. The thermometer on the fermentor says its at 66 degrees which seems to be ok however the garage or ambient temperature seems to be colder. during the day I think it's fine but during the night I'm sure it drops. Is the fluctuation in temperature going to hurt the yeast and overall beer? I appreciate any help you can give.

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[andy6026]

Ideal ferm temps depend on the yeast that you're using. Having it swing below it's ideal range is not usually a problem for mosts yeasts. What you can do is wait until initial fermentation is mostly done (i.e. airlock activity slows considerably and/or you take a gravity reading and see that it's dropped 2/3rds or so of it's expected points and then move it to a warmer such as in your house. That will work for most beers other than lagers.

 

[atearpak]

Thanks Andy-

I think that I am just concerned because there was so much activity the first two days and the yeast had was very thick and seem to be very healthy. But now that yeast cap is pretty much all gone I don't know if that's a bad thing? Reading some of the other forums I heard wrapping in a blanket might work but if it's not necessary then why worry. I do not have any tools to measure gravity but I guess I will have to pick one up.

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[jimmarshall]

The krausen( yeast head) will drop and settle to the bottom. This is normal and expected.


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[SeeMont]

From my little experience, If you have active fermentation for a few days with a normal brew, around 1.050) unless something majoe happens, all will be well. I used to watch and worry, wrap and even used heating pads, took reading afer reading, no more. If that carboy is at lets say 66 degrees for the initial fermentation period, it woud talk a major ambient tempurature drop over a period of time to affect the brew. Good Luck and enjoy the process.