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I need help knowing what to do.

My breaker tripped on my fermentation chamber and my Wort dropped to 59 degrees (beer temp). This was high gravity ale using Safale us-05 (2 packs, rehydrated ofcourse). The beer temp was steady at 69 degrees for 9 days since boil. Last I checked it was still pumping out CO2 steadily (not like the first three days but still steady).

Can I bring this back up to upper 60's or should I just call it quits on this one. I am sure there were plenty of sugars left. I have not checked gravity since the cool down, but OG was 1.096

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  • I don't think I need to or would want to pitch more yeast at this point. I fear new yeast would throw off my flavors. I already had more than enough. I know this thing is mostly finished but it was still bubbling every second as opposed to once every several hours. If raising temp wont bring out nasty flavors and might finish out the remaining fermentables, I think I will do as recommended below. Thanks. I will accept best answer and post my finding.
    – stinkyjak
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 23:13

2 Answers 2

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After 9 days, primary is pretty close to done if not already complete. Yeast activity is starting to slow anyways. The 10° drop to 59° May have caused the yeast to floculate and settle down (cold crash) prematurely. Warm it back up 2° an hour and give the fermentor a gentle swirl to get yeast back into suspension.

All in all, you didn't hurt anything. Just give your fermentation a couple extra days in primary.

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  • I'd skip the gentle swirling to avoid post-ferment oxygen. The warmth should be sufficient enough to regain activity IMO.
    – chabeck
    Commented Jan 9, 2016 at 17:36
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    There shouldn't be oxygen in the headspace at this point, mostly c02.
    – Evil Zymurgist
    Commented Jan 9, 2016 at 17:39
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    When the beer cooled, so did the gas above it. That change could pull air in from outside the fermentation vessel. At any rate, swirling is likely not necessary.
    – chabeck
    Commented Jan 9, 2016 at 20:22
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    This started back up at about 65 degrees. I used a long blowoff tube so it would have had to pull a lot of water a long way before allowing ambient air inside. No swirling needed, but I was thinking about it. This guy is still bubbling strong. Thanks for the recommendation and vote of confidence. We shall see how it tastes in a month.
    – stinkyjak
    Commented Jan 11, 2016 at 16:00
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It should start fermenting after warming up. The temperature it dropped to is well above refrigerator temperature and yeast will survive being in the fridge.

If it doesn't start you can pitch new yeast.

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