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I've been (silently) reading this forum for a while and have gained a huge amount of helpful information. Thanks!

I have a quick question about racking and temperature for secondary fermentation.

I've just racked a stout that has been brewed at about 18 degrees. Since Adelaide is pretty cold at this time of year, I've been using a heat pad on a timer to maintain the temperature. Now that the beer is in secondary, do I still need to heat it, or will fermentatiion complete (say, over a week) at ambient temperature (probably about 10 degrees in my old, cold, stone house)?

I'm kind of hoping I'll be able to do without the heater, since I want to get a pale ale started (and will need to keep it warm). Am I just being impatient?

If anyone is interested, the stout was made with:
1 x Beermakers Old
1.7kg Dark Malt Extract (liquid)
150g Chocolate Malt (steeped)
150g Rolled Oats (steeped)
Muntons Gold Premium Ale Yeast

The planned Pale Ale is going to be:
3kg Light Malt (dry)
1kg Pale malt (to be mashed)
400g Unmalted wheat (to be mashed)
26g Amarillo Hops for 60 min boil (AA is 8.4%)
20g Amarillo hops at flameout
SafAle US-56 yeast
Aiming for 30 IBU's

Thanks again for the help. If anyone sees anything wrong with my Pale Ale, I'd love to know!

Cheers,
Dan

Dan, that yeast ain't gonna ferment any better at lower temps. 18*C is perfect for Muntons premium gold, so I'd keep the beer at that temperature until the specific gravity settles out, then you start thinking about cold conditioning.

PS might have to pinch that pale ale recipe from you, it look delicious.

I assumed that would be the case - I'll put the pale ale on hold until next weekend and keep the stout warm.

The pale recipe was formulated after a quick chat to the guys at Grumpy's.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

Dan.

For what it's worth, I realised my heat pad will keep the fermenter warm with only half the base sitting on it, so I now have two fermenters sharing the one heat pad

Keep the heat on it. Use the 7-7-14 rule.

7 days primary, 7 days secondary, 14 days cc.

After 7 days in secondary, take it off the heat pad and let it sit cold- as cold as possible for 14 days. This step isn't essencial, but will go well if you are in no particular rush.