advice please

[Cummy]

Last night I mixed up a pale ale and things didn't exactly go to plan. Firstly I reached the 23L and temp was still at 28 degrees. So I emptied the ice in the freezer and the sink and got it down to 23. I was aiming for 20 but the ice had all melted and it was as as low as I could get it. I pitched and popped it into the fridge. Woke up this morning to check it and I forgot to flick the switch which meant the fridge stayed on. The fermenter was down to 15. I am using a safale 05. I am now letting it rise (currently 18) back to 20.

Far from what I was trying to do, but what is done is done. Should I pitch another packet of yeast or wait it out?

 

[wereprawn]

Should be right. Give your fermenter a bit of a swirl to get any yeast which has settled, back up into your brew to do its job.

 

[Blind Dog]

Wait it out. If 15 is the lowest it got, it should be fine. And pitching at 23 shouldn't be a drama with US05

I'd keep it below 20C personally, but that's just my preference. How are you measuring temp?

 

[Cummy]

I am only using a sticker to measure temp. thanks for advice.

 

[droid]

I usually pitch slightly higher than ferment temp even though I try to pitch at actual ferment temp, seems ok
It might have slowed its initial feast by dropping to 15 but it'll build up speed no probs imho, the only other thing I can think of that might hinder the yeasts activity would be if the wort wasn't aerated .. You could pitch more if you don't care about the $, that won't hurt either

<edit> what they said

 

[michaeld16]

Im a fan of the pitching it cold ive pitched 05 at 16 before let it rise to 18 over a day then ferment at that 15 degrees is pushin it a bit low but it will be fine,

 

[manticle]

15 would be fine. Fermentation generates heat so actual wort would likely hit 17-18 as it starts to ferment. As above, I prefer pitching cool.
However I wouldn't recommend using freezer ice again unless you made it specifically for the brew using boiled water.

 

[michaeld16]

I only measur e the temp of the wort, i remember when i used to measure the air temp in the fermentation chamber i decided one day to stick a probe on the side of the fermenter just out of interest and it measured 4 degrees higher than i thought i was fermenting at

 

[Cummy]

15 would be fine. Fermentation generates heat so actual wort would likely hit 17-18 as it starts to ferment. As above, I prefer pitching cool.
However I wouldn't recommend using freezer ice again unless you made it specifically for the brew using boiled water.

Thanks for the reassurance. I didn't actually add the ice to the wort, but I filled the sink with an ice slurry and sat the bottom of the fermenter in the sink but after about 20 mins the slurry at room temp so I had to pitch. A few lessons learnt this brew I guess my water wasn't fully chilled yet.

 

[manticle]

In that case all good.

 

[TheBigD]

Ive Pitched a few high in the 24-26c range lately and seem to be getting good results however I've got a fermenting fridge which will bring temp down quickly