What happens if I ferment to cold?

[theCougfan97]

I had an IPA turn really sour on me a few weeks ago and it just dawned on me, I had been letting it ferment in my dark basement closet. What I didnt consider until recently... the basement is consistently in the mid to high 50s. Could the sour taste be a result of temperatures to low for the yeast to work correctly?

 

[solbes]

If its too cold for the yeast strain you pitched to ferment, it will have a really hard time getting established. The few bacteria and wild yeast strains that might be evident could then take over. So yes I would say its possibe for the two to be linked.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Not sure beer can actually ferment to cold. Not sure why you'd want your delicious wort to turn into cold anyway.

Now, as far as fermenting too cold, what yeast strain did you use? High 50's could be ideal. Each yeast has a temp range it prefers, a range it can handle and different temps will provide slightly to extremely different beers. The low temps however, will not likely make your beer sour. That is most likely an infection. It could have been allowed due to low temps causing your yeast to take longer to take hold, thus allowing the infection time to take hold, but most likely, since it happened, it would have anyway even with a quick take off from your yeast.

I'd look at your sanitation practices before your high 50's temps.

 

[theCougfan97]

I hope its not a sanitation issue... I am pretty thorough. I knew (for the most part) it was an infection, no yeast should ever intentionally taste like that. I assumed it had to have happened post boil and pre yeast pitching.

I used US-05 -- (59-71.6°F).

It all makes sense now, I never gave the poor yeast a chance.