Beginner Question

[rjconnell]

This question comes from lack of experiance, but here it goes.

I am making my 2nd batch of beer. I choose the Brewers Best American Amber kit. I've followed all the directions so far, and the brew is in my primary fermentor. Day 1 the area in my basement I had my fermenter got down to near 60degreese for a few hours during the day (the instructions call for 70degreese). I quickly noticed this problem and moved the fermentor upstairs and have been monitoring the temp and it has stayed at 70 +- 2 degreese. After about 20 hours the air-lock was bubbling happily away (about 1 bubble per second), and continued to do so for about 24 hours. But now about 48 hours or so into the fermentation the bubbles have stopped almost completely .... the instructions say the primary fermentation should take about 7 days.

Does it sound like I have killed my yeast (possiably due to the cold) or is this somehow normal? If the yeast is dead what can I do about it, do I just buy more yeast and add it 2 days into the process? Is my brew toast?

Any help and suggestions would be greatly appriciated,
RJ

[ckrobins]

The liquid yeasts I have used (Wyeast & White Labs) are refrigerated for storage at temperatures lower than 60 & they survive just fine. I don't think that the 60-ish temperature in the basement killed your yeast, although it probably went dormant. Do you have a hydrometer? If you took a S.G. measurement when you put the beer in the fermenter, (that is, an Original Gravity measurement) how does that compare to what you have now? Take a little of the beer out with a (sanitized) turkey baster and measure it. Don't return your sample to the fermenter - risking contamination of the whole batch is just not worth the cup, or so, of beer that you'll lose. (The tube that the hydrometer is packed in makes a good test tube) The Brewers Best kits I have used have included the expected original gravity and final gravity in the instruction sheet. Assuming they've given you these numbers to shoot for in your kit, how do your measurements compare? If you are nearing the expected final gravity, your yeast may just be vital enough to have finished its job early. If your specific gravity is still too high for the expected F.G., then make a measurement a day or two after and see if you are still making progress.

I know that some brewers will add a different yeast to their beer to prime (carbonate) the beer than they used to do the primary fermenting. I don't think you have a lot at risk if you choose to add more yeast, but that is up to you to decide. I would first test the SG and see if your original yeast is doing its job.

Good luck & happy brewing!