HomebrewandBeer.com forum

Just thought my latest experience might be helpful to some newbies:

I put a toucan of Coopers Pale Ale on 3 weeks ago before I left for holidays (nothing else, just 2 cans of CPA). Pitched the yeast at 20 deg. and wrapped the fermenter in an old doona and just went away hoping for the best. I know that CPA has a mixture of lager and ale yeast, so I was hoping the lager bit would do its job when the temp. dropped.

Well, I returned last Sunday and the first thing I did (naturally) was check the SG - lo and behold it has dropped very nicely to 1010 and the temperature is/has been sitting on 12-13 deg. probably for most of the time.

So this is great news - means I can still brew my favourite beer all winter without worrying about heating!!

Nice!

While it is fermenting the yeast generate some heat while doing their job so fermentation temperature would have been a bit higher than 12-13. As you had it wrapped in a doona it would have helped to contain this heat. Once fermentation had finished temp would have dropped which can be a good thing anyway.