How cold can mash safely get, and advice on warming?

[Horus92]

It's cold where I live and I'm having a lot of trouble keeping the mash warm.

How cold can mash safely get, and what can I do to warm it up?

I keep it in a filing cabinet at night and pack the thing full of blankets but it still ends up a little chilly in the morning, and it never warms up in the day even if I leave it sitting on a heating vent all day.

The yeast is still alive (it may have died in one container actually, dunno), but I don't know how long it can survive these temps.

I dont' know how cold the water is, haven't been able to find my thermometer. What's the coldest it can safely get?

[Horus92]

I just added a bit of warm water (not hot, just warm) to the worst container, not much water, a small glass.

I know it'll dilute the sugar a little but better that than have it die. Still I can't get away with doing that every day.

[big worm]

get a heat pad or submersable heater. sucks to be you man. cold will just slow it up and turn a one week ferment into a 1month.....or more a light bulb may help in the cabinet but most lkly not. heat and insulation is your best bet. i would think it could just stop and restart when warm. early stages of the ferment could risk infection tho.

[Horus92]

get a heat pad or submersable heater. sucks to be you man. cold will just slow it up and turn a one week ferment into a 1month.....or more a light bulb may help in the cabinet but most lkly not. heat and insulation is your best bet. i would think it could just stop and restart when warm. early stages of the ferment could risk infection tho.

Alright.

I'm not too worried, it's not super-cold. Colder than luke-warm but I'd be surprised if it was below 55; it very well might be above 60 actually. My mother estimated it at 65-70 (based on how cold a pool feels at those temps, I don't know if that's a good way to estimate though), in which case nothing to worry about.

I shouldn't have to worry too much about contamination, the yeast got off to a very vigorous start and the mash is already alcoholic enough that I'm tempted to drink it

I guess it might hurt my yields if I don't get it fixed but there's already enough there to make a decent amount of 'shine, probably, at least a decent amount for 2.5 gals of mash.

[Fire Water]

Bakers yeast will go dormant under cool conditions, You would have a bigger risk of killing them with high (abv). Even with that factored in you still wouldn't eliminate all the yeast in your wash. If your concerned about one container in particular ( I assume you don't have a hydrometer) taste will be your best judgement on whether it has completed fermentation. Really sweet wash would equate to more fermentation time, repitch yeast. If it has a somewhat dry taste it's probally done. If maintaining 70+ degree temps is a issue this time of year, maybe you could fabricate from several, or find a approiate size box and add a light bulb, If you take that approach take all the proper precautions to assure you don't start a fire.

[blanikdog]

When it gets coolish here I use an aquarium heater and have bubble wrap around the fermenter. Works perfectly for my size wash.

blanik

[Horus92]

I think I solved the problem.

I just put a stopper in my sink and filled it up with warm-hot water, then put my trouble container in it; it's warmed up to lukewarm right now and I added a fair amount of yeast to jumpstart it.

The other containers, though just as cold, seem just fine, though I'll heat them tonight just to be safe. They don't produce a particularly large amount of carbonation, like if I open them I don't see a ton of bubbles coming up, but if I shake them they'll fizz like crazy so I know they're still goin'. It's just the trouble container that didn't seem to fizz much even with shaking, but hopefully this will fix it.

All containers taste very dry, not sweet whatsoever. They taste like really bad wine, basically, though this is only the third day of fermentation so I'd be pretty surprised if they're done already, especially considering the cold temps!

[kiwistiller]

I have a single electric blanket for up to four fermenters. cheap, works great, but you need to keep it in blankets as well. see the link in my sig if you want pics.

[noobsauce]

What i do is i keep my fermentators in a closet off the floor about 3 feet..all the cold air generally is found below that. I also keep the closet light on which i find does make a slight difference in temperature there. Getting a cheap thermometer (digital is better cause they update faster)and checking around the house to find a warmer spot might work also. One plus you will get from a cold fermentation though is much less chance of stressed yeast and a better chance of a much cleaner fermentation.

[CletusDwight]

Never tried it but I doubt you can kill yeast with cold. I bet you could freeze it and it'd still come out fightin' when you warmed her up.

[rubber duck]

I just use home blanket insulation r13 to keep mine warm. It stays around 55 degf hear in the after noon all the time so cold is alwase a problem.

If you insulate properly and do a wash that ferments realy hard your wash will stay warm from it's own heat.

IT takes a little longer to ferment but lager style yeast is a option also, just get 6 fermentors going at the same time and stager them.