Moved Bucket. Did I screw up?

We had a warm spell and the house was getting up past mid 70'sF so I thought I should move my first ever brew (Honey Brown Ale with S-05 yeast) under the house where it was 57F. It had been seriously bubbling. Now I have a little pressure on the bucket lid, but no bubbling within the five minutes I spent down there with it. It is supposed to get down cooler tonight and tomorrow and I think it will drop to 55 down there. I don't have a thief to easily check my gravity. Should I leave it down there for the second week to clarify or bring it back into the house for some potentially more bubbling for its second week, or do you'all think I killed my eco-system by moving them or putting them in a cooler area?
Thanks

The spec sheet for that yeast shows its ideal temperature range being between 59 and 71.6 F. It's likely that you put the yeast to sleep or that you slowed it to almost inactive.

Get it back inside and let it warm back up. If you can't keep it down then I'd use a swamp cooler. Get a large container to that will hold the carboy/bucket and water. Put it inside the container and fill around it with water to about the level of the beer. If this doesn't get it down enough then float ice packs around it.

I think you'll be fine. The first few days are most important in terms of temp control. Depending on how long it's been since you pitched, you may run into some problems with off flavors if your beer is still young. Many of us will slowly ramp up our ferment temps after 4-5 days to help the yeast attenuate and finish out.

Moving your brew to colder area is fine. If its too cold you can cause the yeast to go dormant and you'll stop fermentation early. I'd try to get the temp (inside your fermentor) back to around 64-65 for s05 and leave it for 2-3 weeks. I doubt this episode did anything too bad for your beer. Look into swamp coolers or fermentation chambers for future beers to avoid this kinda thing.

Also, don't trust your airlock to be a reliable indicator for active fermentation. Only way to know if your yeast are working is to measure the gravity!

I agree with the above posts. Starting low and raising it good but starting high and lowering it is not so good. Your yeast will create more off flavors at a higher temp but it will also reabsorb a lot more at a higher temp. One suggestion I may make is getting a digital thermometer with a probe and taping it to the outside of the fermenter under a piece of styrofoam to insulate it. I have noticed the temp in my fermenter and the room temp differ greatly as much as 10 degrees. The thermometer that I got was only a half a degree off of what the temp actually was inside.

This is the one I got for around 7 bucks at petsmart

It all depends on how long you had it fermenting before you moved it down there. If more than 3-5 days, primary fermentation could have been just about done. Often, the primary fermentation will go from very active to almost quiet in less than a day.

They aren't dead, just sleeping.

You need to get it warmed up a little. Even 64F would be good with US-05.

I have to disagree- although I don't like starting a fermentation too warm, I think an ambient temperature of 57 degrees may be just fine.

Do you have a "stick on" thermometer on the outside of your fermenter? The important temperature is the temperature of the beer, not the ambient temperature.

I really like the results of S05 at 66 degrees, more than higher or lower, but sometimes it's just not possible if we're relying on mother nature.

I'd really try my best to check the gravity, and see if the beer is done or not. Then it can either stay where it is (if it's done), or be moved to someplace slightly warmer to finish if it's not done.

Thanks for all the information I am fortunate to have found this site.
Well today was my first bottle day and I am left with only one question currently. What is the preferred amount of head-space for an ale. I have one of those plastic straws with the push valve at the bottom. I let the bottles fill until the fluid reached the fat spot in the neck just below the cap area, when I withdraw the tube the fluid level drops to about an inch and a half from the top. Am I leaving enough or just right amount of head-space for carbonation?
Thanks again,
GD Brewerl

I'll add that moving beer expels co2 that is dissolved in the fermenting beer. What you see coming out of the airlock isn't necessarily coming straight from the yeast, but is bubbling up to the surface. So when you move it, you expell what's in there, and it has to build up again before you see it bubbling out of the airlock.

EDIT: guess I should have read the last post before I posted... oh well

GnarlyDudeBrewer said:

Thanks for all the information I am fortunate to have found this site.
Well today was my first bottle day and I am left with only one question currently. What is the preferred amount of head-space for an ale. I have one of those plastic straws with the push valve at the bottom. I let the bottles fill until the fluid reached the fat spot in the neck just below the cap area, when I withdraw the tube the fluid level drops to about an inch and a half from the top. Am I leaving enough or just right amount of head-space for carbonation?
Thanks again,
GD Brewerl

Click to expand...

That's pretty close,but let the bottlwe fill right to the top,then pull up a couple inches real quick at that point to close the pin valve on the bottling wand. Pulling out the wand will then leave the correct head space by way of volume displacement.