Eeek! Loosing Power For 6 Hours - How Low Can I Drop The Temp?

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zarniwoop

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Hi All,

Via a mix-up with post redirection I 've just found out the day before that we are going to loose power for 6 hours tomorrow and I have a brew fermenting outside in my freezer with temp control. Problem is it's going to be 34C in Melbourne and my plan is to add some thermal mass inside the freezer tonight (jerry cans with water) and then drop the temp. down as far as I can go to try and prevent it climbing too high when the power goes off. Question is how far down can I send a 3068 yeast? It's been fermenting for 10 days now and appears to be well settled but I only just started checking FG today and I'd like it to be active for another couple of days before bottling.

Thanks for any advice.


Cheers

Zarniwoop
 
If its just about finished i wouldn't worry. The freezer should maintain the temp fairly well, and raising the temp a bit towards the end of fermentation isn't going to hurt much (and will possibly do some good - even if it gets to 34 outside, i would doubt the wort inside a freezer would get anywhere near that).
 
had my power off for 8 hours about a month ago. 30 deg day.
fermenter @17 deg, it went up to 25 deg in the fridge, dont open the fridge door no matter what.

the wort might go up a couple of deg but i would think as the guys said before it wont hurt it.

RELAX.
fergi
 
Assume it's a weizen brewing? Doubt you'll get much temp increase in 6 hours with the door shut, but if it did it might make for some great weizen flavours regardless...

What temp have you been fermenting it at?
 
Assume it's a weizen brewing? Doubt you'll get much temp increase in 6 hours with the door shut, but if it did it might make for some great weizen flavours regardless...

What temp have you been fermenting it at?

18C, yep Weizen.
 
if your freezer is outside, ensure it doesn't get direct sunlight. u could lean a sheet of ply or something against it to provide some shade, might help a bit.
 
We had a power outage for 4 hours a few weeks back - brew in the shed only rose 2 degrees - within ferment range - the shed temp was about 40 degrees c ! Me thinks you should be fine.
 
my plan is to add some thermal mass inside the freezer tonight (jerry cans with water) and then drop the temp. down as far as I can go to try and prevent it climbing too high when the power goes off.

Might be a a bit of a late reply here. I'd leave your fridge where it is and freeze some bottles of water instead. Chuck m in your fridge when you go to work in the morning and you should be sweet.
 
fermenting for 10days and in a freezer I doubt you have any worry in the world. Id say its all finished anyway and it might raise 5deg so upto 23deg that is nothing to worry about even less so when its finished fermenting. You get the funky stuff when the yeast cells are growing and they are sleeping now so dont worry.
 
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