lack of yeast head in fermentation, temp dropped

[Barm]

Hi - and welcome to a great hobby: you're on a slippery slope, now!

Low temperatures won't 'kill' your yeast - but will certainly slow it down, and even cause it to fall dormant. Warming up should do the trick - for best results try to keep your brew at a constant temp 18-24deg ish (14 is a bit low for most ale yeasts). A gentle stir may also help to get things going again (once the temp is right) - especially if much of the yeast has "dropped out" to form a whitish layer at the bottom of the vessel.

There are loads of things HBers do to maintain temperature, including heater belts, mats, immersion heaters, even aquarium heaters - just browse/search round the forum! I guess (assuming you are electrically competent) there's nothing to stop your thermostat/heater plan: but running costs could be high since using a high-wattage hater, and heating up the whole room.. the other solutions mentioned use relatively low wattages, and heat only the brew vessel; so whilst there's an initial outlay to buy something, the running costs are much less. If your brew area regularly drops to 14 or below - you'll certainly need some form of heating; of course a cheaper/simpler solution would be to move the vessel somewhere warmer!

Good luck!

[fractureman]

The aquarium heaters like I use are only about £12 delivered off ebay, so cheap as to know your brew is at correct temp. As been mentioned once your brew is abck upto temp a gentle stir should re-suspend the yeast & get it active again. If you've got a hydro sterilise & drop into the brew (& leave) look at every day to check it is dropping so you know fermentation is happeneing