temperature changes

[historybuff]

I am new to brewing and am doing my second 5 Gallon batch (my first came out quite good) which is a true brew brown ale extract kit.

My fermentation bucket held an exact 66 degrees for the first week. Then, we lost power in below zero weather and I believe the wort cooled to about 50 degrees-- I couldn't keep exact track as I was busy with candles, fireplace, gas space heater, generator, etc. to keep pipes from freezing. After about 8 hours the power came on and the wort warmed back up to 66 degrees. Today is extremely cold and the temperature is wavering between 65 and 64.

Am I correct in assuming that the yeast simply slowed down at 50 degrees and then just restarted? I had planned on bottling at three weeks as my previous batch had a touch of off flavor until they had bottle conditioned past 3 weeks or so. Is there any need to change my schedule?

 

[flars]

Plan your bottling day when final gravity has been reached and the clarity of the specific gravity sample. Give the beer time to ferment out completely, confirmed with two stable SG readings separated by 2 to 3 days. A few more days after FG is reached will allow your beer to clear.

Fermentation will take a little longer when the wort has had a large drop in temperature and then rewarming.

 

[JimRausch]

Depending on what yeast strain you used the drop to 50 may have induced the yeast to drop to the bottom in preparation of 'going into hibernation'. But it warmed back up fairly soon, so I think you'll be OK. Maybe give the bucket a gentle swirl to make sure the yeast is in suspension.
Oops- reread your post. If this all happened after a week, then it's quite possible that the yeast was mostly finished. So further confirmation that you should be fine.
As flars said, take a series of SGs and see where you are.