Cold temp ferments
Moderator: Site Moderator
Cold temp ferments
Hello friends, 6 days ago I had just enough spare time to do a 30 gal ferment of honey bear. Everything went fine, I used new liquid enzymes with good conversion, but bc of family I can no longer keep mash barrels in garage- I had put it in outdoor shed- I insulated barrel good, with blankets, old carpet and styrofoam board, ratchet strapped around barrel, I used ec118 yeast bc it’s simple it works n goes down fairly low on temp range. For first couple days it was 15-25 degrees F . But it was working off- slow but steady bubbles and fizz. Today it warmed to 55 n I jus checked it, n it doesn’t look like doing much at all, Mash is still quite sweet, lots of sugars left, my question is this- does yeast actually die in cold temp? And anyone have any good tips for cold weather ferments? No electricity in shed or I would put a drop light in there. I love this hobby, but family life been crazy lately so when I get chance to work I gotta do wat ever I can. Thank you
semper fi
- Soft batch
- Site Donor
- Posts: 214
- Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2013 4:42 pm
- Location: NE Ohio
Re: Cold temp ferments
Yeast have always come back after warming for me - never frozen though. You'll need a heat source at those temps - aquarium heater works great if you had a power source (Solar panel?)
Re: Cold temp ferments
I may be able to rig a lawnmower battery or something n run aquarium heater, but I gotta be careful bc shed is 100 yards from house n I don’t wanna burn it down. I’ll see wat I can come up with, thank u
semper fi