[Lori_B]

I brewed my first beer yesterday, a 3 gallon BIAB, a final reading from the refractometer was 1.70. I put the fermentor in a basin of water, covered it with an old t shirt, and placed a thermometer between the t-shirt and the fermenter. This morning the temp was down to 60. The temp range on the yeast (WLP005) is 65-70. Do i need to take the fermenter out of the water and let it warm up to that range? The alternate method would be to put more water in the tub and add an aquarium heater to bring the temp up. or do i just need to relax and give it time.

[flars]

Uncover the thermometer before you do anything else.  The evaporation of the water from the t-shirt is probably cooling the thermometer more than the beer.  Tape the thermometer to the side of the carboy with some insulation over it to isolate it from ambient air temperature.

[deadpoetic0077]

Uncover the thermometer before you do anything else.  The evaporation of the water from the t-shirt is probably cooling the thermometer more than the beer.  Tape the thermometer to the side of the carboy with some insulation over it to isolate it from ambient air temperature.

What he said. You are probably fine.

typically ill do exactly what you do and its gets a little too cold first, then I just let it warm up. The temp range on the package is the optimal range. If you go a little below, its not a huge deal. The worst thing that will happen is the yeast will go dormant because its too cold for their liking. Letting it warm up will get some of them active again. You can swirl the fermentor GENTLY to suspend some of the yeast. BUt in all honesty you are probably already in the right range. Just wait for the bubbles to start after a day or so!

[Lori_B]

Done. and the thermometer already reads 64, so it sounds like i just need to hold tight.

Thanks so much for the  help.

And i now have foam on the beer and bubbles in the air lock. Yippee.