First time brewing, ferm temp was 50F this morning.

I doubt you did much damage to the yeast, but you definitely slowed your fermentation down. If you're not using an external thermostat to control the fridge temp, then this will keep happening no matter what fridge you use...a fridge thermostat isn't really designed to reach the lower end of fermentation temps because food would spoil at those temps. What is your room temp? It may be best to ferment just a little hot at room temp than to try fermenting at lager temps with an ale yeast.

 

You can use something like this... http://www.northernbrewer.com/johnson-refrigerator-thermostat
Or something like this...
http://www.northernbrewer.com/thermostar-dual-mode-digital-temperature-controller
It really depends on how much you want to spend and what bells and whistles you want. I picked a digital thermostat up at Amazon for around $50 and added a power cord for around $10 and couldn't be happier with how it maintains my kegerator temp.

 

Your refrigerator is at 50deg? That's awfully high for your food. I would say 35-40 is more typical

 

Welcome to the BA site, coreyman, and to the Homebrewing forum. You just found a great hobby to monopolize your time if you let it, but you'll enjoy it regardless of how deep you get into brewing.

I think that temp range is too warm to give you a good beer, but at least you would have the yeast working better than at 50 degrees. You should google 'swamp cooler' to see if you can use that kind of approach as a cooling method.

If you have a basement, check out the temp on the basement floor. It might be ideal.

I'd hate to see you get a mini-fridge and an external thermostat for this beer because you're rushing into it and might not make the best purchase. And by that I mean, if you have room for an old standard size fridge, you might want the extra room for whenever you switch to brewing 5-gallon batches which may not fit into a mini-fridge. Also, a second fridge is great for holding all of the beer that you'll brew just to keep it fresh, or later on if you get into cellaring your beer, it will be better for stored beers than a hot closet would be.

Also, since this beer kit that you just brewed was a Christmas present, I'm going to guess that the yeast was a packet of dry yeast? Did it have a 'Use By' date that is still within your pitch date?

 

Personally, I would go with one of these.....great price for the quality.
https://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Itc-...id=1468421758&sr=8-1&keywords=inkbird+itc-308

As far as your fridge goes, I would look into one large enough to house a 5 gallon carboy or plastic bucket if you ever decide to step up to 5 gallon batches. Trust me, you won't regret it.

 

On the bright side, the error you committed is a better than your temperature being 80 degrees!

 

I think you did great. Starting the fermentation cold then warming it up promotes a very clean beer with less yeast character (fruity esters and phenols). Should turn out great. By the way... the first 3 or 4 days is all that really matters for temperature anyway. After that point, I'd recommend removing from the refrigerator and just letting it sit in your house between 68 and 77 F or whatever. It will be just fine in that whole range.

 

Firstly, permit me to recommend that you read the book “How to Brew” by John Palmer. There is an on-line version but perhaps the updated hardcopy would be more appropriate.

Below is a link to an article that addresses this topic.

During the exponential growth phase of fermentation (days 1-4): “Most of the flavor and aroma compounds have been produced, including fusel alcohols, esters, and sulfur compounds.”

https://byo.com/mead/item/635-fermentation-time-line

Cheers!

 

Since you are brewing only a 1-gallon batch, placing your fermentor in a bucket or tub of some sort with some ice would help a lot to get the temp down to around 68 degrees. Freezing water in plastic bottles and changing them out with new frozen ones once they thaw prevents getting too much water in the tub from melting ice. There are methods that don't depend on evaporation in your high humidity climate to create the cooling needed.

 

@coreyman welcome to the site from a fellow Houston'r. To reiterate what @crcostel said, is this a backup fridge or your main fridge? If it is your main fridge and you are letting the temp get above 40, that is a bozo no no. The swamp coolers will work down south, just use something like 1 or 2 liter bottles of water that you have put in the freezer. Would hate you see you ruin your food and get sick over homebrew. Good luck with it

 

I would just get a thermometer,put in in a bucket of water like MG said and place in front of the AC.