Bubbling and musings about temperature

A sigh of relief. The fermenter started bubbling early this morning. That's 40-some-odd hours before a visible sign. It may be that this will tip me over the edge to buying a 6.5 gallon glass carboy. The nice thing about carboys vs. the plastic bucket is that you can see fermentation (or infection) activity long before the bubbles start.

This is the longest time it has ever taken (in my illustrious 10-month, six-batch beer career) for vigorous fermentation to begin. Besides the vacuum factor, I wonder if the five degrees of cooling by the window shocked the yeast into inactivity. I would have thought it would take a greater temperature variance, but who knows? After all, the desired range is 60-75ºF, so a five degree shift could well be significant.

Of course, while I am thinking about carboys, some people really have it figured out with the kegerator. (here too) Definitely something to look forward to.