Will cold temperature ruin my beer?

[drbell]

Thank you all for the advice I have received from this forum so far. I was particularly grateful to learn that 18 degrees C would be fine for my beer to ferment in.

Unfortunately my currently broken boiler has lower that temperature to a constant 16 degrees C, which is definitely too cold. I would be very grateful for peoples thoughts on whether a few days at this lower temperature will ruin the beer, or just slow the fermentation down, meaning it requires more days until I can bottle it?

Thanks, Dave

[steve_flack]

Depends on the yeast used. Some ale strains are fine at 16C - they just work slower.

[drbell]

The beer is a Munton's IPA, brewed following the instructions on the box, using the yeast that came in the box. Beyond that I'm afraid I have no idea what kind of yeast it was.

[MightyMouth]

Bring the beer up to 20c and give it a gentile stir with a sanitised spoon to rouse the yeast and give it 24 hours, if nothing happens get another packet of yeast and pitch that. You might try pitching an active starter

[drbell]

Great thanks.

Hopefully the boiler is being fixed this afternoon, so if so, I will crank up the heat, take a hydrometer reading tonight (the beer has had nearly 2 weeks now) and give it a stir and then take another reading tomorrow night and see where we are.

This forum really is a great resource, thanks I suspect to a small number of very helpful people such as yourself. Thanks.

[MightyMouth]

Get yourself a fully submersible fish tank heater for a tenner or so, sanitise it, set it to 20c and put it in the FV. I keep mine in the garage and it has no problem keeping the brew at 20c with a blanket around it.

[drbell]

Presumably you run the cable into the FV using a gromit?

I will certainly consider this idea if this brew struggles to ferment or doesn't taste too good.

Thanks, Dave

[MightyMouth]

Presumably you run the cable into the FV using a gromit?

I will certainly consider this idea if this brew struggles to ferment or doesn't taste too good.

Thanks, Dave

Depends on what type of FV you have, I drilled an extra whole in my airlock bung and ran the cable through there then reattached the plug.