Pitched Yeast too Cold!?

[31FIFTY]

The guy army LHBS said to make a 3 gallon wort and pour it on 2bagsof ice. He said idhavethe perfect temp wort and be ready pitch. The ice didnt melt all the way!

Long story short I went ahead and mixed everything together and as the carboy filled the adhesive thermometer was as low as the mid 50's. there is no action in the airlock now. Did I kill the yeast or sommething.

That and how do u keep the rubber stopper on these carboys!?!?

 

[homebrewdad]

You didn't kill it - yeast is stored at fridge temps. At worst, it's just still asleep. Let it warm it up to 60-65, and it'll be fine.

 

[feinbera]

How long has it been since you pitched? It can easily take 36-48 hours for yeast activity to become visible/start bubbling your airlock -- and the airlock may never bubble, especially if you're having trouble getting it into the carboy.

If you haven't already, warm the beer up to 65 or so, and give it a couple good swirls.

If you get to more than 72 hours with no activity, you might need to pitch more yeast, but until then, probably the yeasties are alive but just moving slowly due to the cold.

Re the rubber stopper... are you talking about the one with the hole through middle that your airlock attaches to, or what? You may have to give it a good shove to get it to stay. And, always put the airlock in the stopper before putting the stopper in the carboy; it's really easy to shove the stopper all the way through into your beer otherwise!

 

[RM-MN]

Read about the phases that yeast go through during the ferment. http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

Don't worry while you are reading and don't warm up the fermenter too much. My fermenter had the yeast pitched at 54 F. and I'll try to keep it in the low 60's for the first 5-7 days and then warm it to 72 for another 7-10 days.