To look or not to look

[c0ff33d]

I have my first beer in primary right now. I am using my kegerator with a JC analog temp controller to keep my temps in check. I peeked at it this morning to see if I was still bubbling, and to make some mental notes on what it looks like while it's fermenting. When I first looked, it had a 1/2" layer of foam on the top of the wort. I shut the door to the fridge, walked away and remembered to double check my temp. When I came back that 1/2" layer of foam grew to 1.5" of foam. This was in a period of about 5 minutes.

I assume all the cold air rushed right out of the fridge and the temp jumped quite a bit for this to happen. So my question is this, when using a small fridge to ferment in, should I keep my yeast voyerism to a minimum? Is once a day too much? Any advice is appreciated.

[c0ff33d]

...on a second thought, maybe my WB influenced my question. I noticed I cant even see the krausen when I open the door to the fridge just enough to see the airlock since its too dark. I think I just noticed the dark line of funk on the inside of the carboy toward the bottom of the foam, and thought that was the top of the krausen.

[Sent From My iPhone]

It probably has to do with pressure. CO2 is building up in the fridge and when you open the door you're releasing CO2. It's probably good to do occasionally.

[tavish2]

just as long as you dont have a fan blowing into the fridge when you open it up, the temp should only change between 3-5F if you only have it open for a min or two.

[c0ff33d]

It probably has to do with pressure. CO2 is building up in the fridge and when you open the door you're releasing CO2. It's probably good to do occasionally.

I was wondering if the pressure that builds inside the fridge would be bad for my fermentation or not. Thanks for the advice, I will continue to peek.

[Whitebeard_Brewer]

I would not think there would be that much pressure inside the fridge. Also, if you have 5 gallons of fermenting beer in your fridge, opening the door for a few seconds might allow the cooler air to escape from the "chamber", but I would not expect the temp of the beer to change at all, not in that short amount of time. RDWHAHB!!

[kace069]

I suspect a WB is causing irrational fears and OCD!

Fermentation should just about be wrapped up by now. With not much more CO2 being produced. Just the beer off gassing a bit. If your in a hurry to taste it you could keg it on Sunday. It should prolly be fine.

BTW... Heffes are cloudy because of yeast in suspension, not because of a lack of finning agent.

[Todd]

You would have to leave your fridge door open at room temps for upwards of 20+ minutes to have even a measureable effect on the temperature of the liquid within of a degree or two. Simple immutable laws of thermodynamics at work in your favor here, the temperature of the 5 gallon mass of liquid is much much harder to move than the air temp inside the fridge. Peeking won't change that, but you might want to avoid doing it too often so your family and friends don't think you've gone off your rocker. That's your little secret...