Woke up to a really cold carboy

[skate17ohs]

Last night I brewed my first batch of beer ever! It was great fun. I used the Whitey's Gone Fishin' Pale Ale recipe from "The Joy of Home Brewing". I followed all the steps, it's in my glass carboy airlock and all. I realize that its been less than 24 hours and I've read the sticky on fermentation taking 24-48 hours to get started but my concern is that I woke up this morning to a carboy around 48/50 degrees and all the yeast at the bottom of the carboy. I'm fairly sure this is recoverable if I just bring my carboy up to the low to mid 60's, am I correct in thinking this? Another thought/question I have is how to keep my carboy at the correct temp. My house is very small and is very inefficient with heat hence why I woke up to a cold carboy. What can be done to help keep the temp up. I was thinking of moving it to the 2nd floor where temps are a bit higher and then maybe wrapping it in a blanket to help keep her warm. Any advice would be great. Thanks!

 

[flabyboy]

Your just going to have to find warmer place in your house or start making some lagers instead. Try to find a spot that is consistently 60 degrees.

 

[danorocks17]

the yeast were just lulled to sleep more than likely. bring it up to temp and it should be fine. the idea of moving it to a warmer part of the house while wrapping a towel around it sounds good to me

 

[jmprdood]

Find the place in your house with the most consistent temps above 60F and keep it there. You can wrap in a blanket to insulate and set it on a heat pad set on low. Better to be a little low than high in my experience. Relax and keep an eye on it - you should be fine...

 

[dutchoven]

Before I set up my fermentation chamber, I used a heating pad from the drug store to help keep my fermentors warm. I used stick-on thermometer strips to monitor the temps.

 

[skate17ohs]

When you used the heating pad how did you use it? Did you just place your carboy right on top of it? What setting did you use?

 

[jmprdood]

On top and lowest setting - I used a stick on thermometer on the FV and kept the pad on as long as my thermometer was <70F. Turned it off if i saw 70F.

 

[skate17ohs]

Thanks for all the tips and help. I moved it up stairs and it came up to temp just fine and has been fermenting away for the last few days. Thanks again!