Sharp drop in Temp

[gabe00818]

I live in Southern Arizona where a simple cold front can cause the city to practically shut down. Long story short, we had consecutive below freezing temps (very uncommon) which caused a portion of the city to be without gas and/or water. I was part of the No-Gas group resulting in no heat.

I brewed my 2nd brew, a stout, on Sunday (1.064 OG) and was maintaining 68-70 degree temps per the fermometer with a nice krausen and bubble activity. However, due to the lack of heat for a 1.5 days, the house dropped to 58* causing the carboy to drop to 60*. I tried to move it during this time to warmer areas of the house, but it didn't help much. As of this morning, the krausen was gone with minimal bubble activity. I took a gravity reading and it was 1.026 (supposed to be 1.017 FG per instructions). Fortunately, the gas was fixed in my neighborhood this morning so the house should be back to ~70* by the time I get back home.

So, could the drop in temp and the moving of the carboy caused the fermentation to stop? Should I do anything to get it started again? Am I panicking for no reason since my first batch's fermentation was smooth? Could there be any other problems with the beer when temps change this much?

BTW, I used 1056 American Ale Yeast. Thanks...

 

[trevorc13]

It may have slowed a bit, but I doubt that getting it to 60 would have caused the yeast to crash. When it gets warmer, give it a gentle rock to get the yeast back in suspension. Because it has a good layer of CO2 on top, moving it should not have introduced any O2 to the beer. Giving it a gentle swirl will not hurt it either. Just don't shake it. Give your beer another week or two and check it again. Most likely its still working.

 

[gabe00818]

Right on. Thanks!!