Hi
I’m on my 3rd batch - California Common - and have decided to let it ferment in my basement instead of sitting in the middle of my kitchen.
After 1 day it did indeed start to ferment, and I put the blow off tube on there since being out of sight, I wouldn’t be checking it as much.
But I’m worried about the temperature - it seems to be sitting at about 60F - 62F. The recommended temp is 58-68, but since I’m close to the lower end, what would happen if all of a sudden it fell out of the range? Would the yeast just stop and would it ever kick in again if the temp increased? These things keep me awake at night 
Also - since I’m already here, I got another question - there is an absolute ton of crap floating around and in the bottom in my carboy - much much more than I’ve had with the other 2 batches. It almost looks like an oil & water thing. Is this because it is on the colder side - or maybe because I had to add hops at the end of the boil so it didn’t really dissolve it enough? Hoping I don’t have some strange infection in there.
Wondering also - that sice it recommends a month in secondary, and I’ll want to do that to free up my primary, do I want any of that crap in there or do I want to take the 3 gallons of beer and leave the 2 gallons of sludge?
Thanks for any help - I really hope these were stupid questions and not something unheard of :?
[quote=“Flibster”]Hi
I’m on my 3rd batch - California Common - and have decided to let it ferment in my basement instead of sitting in the middle of my kitchen.
After 1 day it did indeed start to ferment, and I put the blow off tube on there since being out of sight, I wouldn’t be checking it as much.
But I’m worried about the temperature - it seems to be sitting at about 60F - 62F. The recommended temp is 58-68, but since I’m close to the lower end, what would happen if all of a sudden it fell out of the range? Would the yeast just stop and would it ever kick in again if the temp increased? These things keep me awake at night
Also - since I’m already here, I got another question - there is an absolute ton of crap floating around and in the bottom in my carboy - much much more than I’ve had with the other 2 batches. It almost looks like an oil & water thing. Is this because it is on the colder side - or maybe because I had to add hops at the end of the boil so it didn’t really dissolve it enough? Hoping I don’t have some strange infection in there.
Wondering also - that sice it recommends a month in secondary, and I’ll want to do that to free up my primary, do I want any of that crap in there or do I want to take the 3 gallons of beer and leave the 2 gallons of sludge?
Thanks for any help - I really hope these were stupid questions and not something unheard of :? [/quote]
Your temperature is perfect. Lower end of the range is where you want to be for the first few days. After 3-4 days you can raise it to 68 or so to let the yeast clean up a bit. Most of the floating trub will probably settle out after active fermentation or you could cold crash it for a day or two before racking to the secondary. You shouldn’t lose more than 1/4-1/2 gallon to trub at the worst.
