Rangichard said:
Rangichard, on 04 Jul 2014 - 6:21 PM, said:
Ok, I'm new to brewing. Came home from work and checked in on my fermenter to find my submerged heater was switched off an my brew was sitting at 16 degrees. A day later and my airlock refuses to bubble. Is my brew dead the extract stated a 7day fermentation and I'm looking to bottle on Sunday, is this a waste of time?
Hey Rangi,
Kit instructions are usually pretty sparse and definitely not what most would call good practice. Have a read through some of the beginner threads here to answer some of the questions you'll come across during your first couple of batches. There's some good info around.
As to your question, well airlocks are pretty useless bastards at the best of times. They wont work for a couple of reasons and generally aren't a good indication of anything, though I'm kinda partial to the noise they make myself.
First question is, do you have a hydrometer or refractor meter? If you don't, try and grab one from your local home brew shop asap - it's a small investment and the only guaranteed way to know what's going on.
Secondly, 16'C is at the low end of some ale yeasts, but it's usually still pretty safe. I wouldn't stress. You wont kill yeast by going to the low end of their working range, they just get kinda lazy and take longer to do things. Or fall asleep. Bring it up to around 18'C if you can and try and hold it there. Maybe give the fermenter a slight swirl (don't open it if you can!) but no harm done.
If you can wait, try and give it 2 weeks to make sure it's completely fermented out, if you're bottling in glass you definitely don't want exploding glass so be patient. Draw off a couple of hydrometer samples once fermentation looks like it might have stopped (or in 10 days or so).
Two readings a couple of days apart is the best way to check; providing the readings are close to your expected final gravity (your kit should have given you a rough guide of what it is.. or if you list your ingredients / process we can work it out)
Looks like your pitched on Sat/Sunday last week? If you were holding it around 20C or more I'd say the bulk of fermentation is done now and you can relax. 16C isn't going to make much if any difference now.
Trust your hydrometer.