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Hi,

I am new to the art of brewing and in my first batch tried to emulate the James Squire Amber Ale. On the advice of my HBS I used the following recipe:

1 tin Morgan's Royal Oak Amber Ale
1kg Amber Malt
Hops (teabag - 12g)
Kit Yeast.
(23litres)

Unfortunately I started my brew on Wednesday which was 35 degrees in Sydney and Thursday was hot as well. It started at about 29 degrees and was at 28 degrees until today (Friday) when it dropped to 24. The brew was bubbling at a fast rate until last night and now, 36 hours after starting, the airlock has totally stopped. The beer looks clear and smells good.

So, my questions:
- Is 36 hours a bit fast, i.e. is it fully fermented, or is this just because of the high temperature?
- The hydro reading is 1.016 (OG was 1.038), so I would guess it hasn't finished, but not sure what the FG should be for this mix.
- What is the recommended best temperature for brewing this mix?
- I read a few other JSAA replication recipes and it seems like I may have been short on malt?

Thanks,
Tim.

The brewcraft calculator says it should be around 1.012 FG and 1.042 OG, but if the gravity has been the same for a couple days in a row then its probably done.

I think the general consensus around here is that the best brewing temperature for any Ale yeast (of which 95% of kit yeasts are, including the "lager" kits) is around 18-21*C

If you have the capacity, rack it. You should be able to drop the SG down to ~1012. Maybe lower.

If you can't rack, just rouse your yeasties up by gently rolling the fermenter on it's base. This stirs them up a bit.

It sounds to me like your yeast has been going nuts in the heat, but has now decided to get some rest due to the large temperature change. NTR is right in that 18-21*C is the optimal temperature, but keeping a more constant temperature is more important. If you start hot and cool down, the yeast goes to sleep. Wake them up and put them back on the case. If they are not active enough, then you may have problems with carbonation later.

Hi Chris and NTR,

Thanks for the info and tips. I've rolled it around a bit and also lowered the fermenter into a shallow sink with warm water in it. The temp has gone up from 22 to about 24 and it seems to be bubbling very slowly again through the airlock, so it might be doing the trick. I took a sample and it's still 1016, but that might go down now. The sample tasted OK.

Cheers,
Tim.

wightie, i had the same problem.

check this out for bad luck:

I tried to boil up some malt and hops for the first time . After 10mins, the stove broke......keeps tripping the earth leakage.
So i go out to the BBQ side burner - out of gas ( thanks to the missus not telling me ).
So i think 'ah well', and through it into the fermenter, topped up to 23L, and pitched at 28*C. Usually over night it would drop down to a handy 22-24*C.

The next day was stinking hot, and I got home to my fermented bubbling vigorously at 36*C

I'll let you all know how it tastes in 2 weeks.

hey wightie, what hops did you use?


Ive got the same ingredients for a JSAA, and I have about 6 different types of hops.

I just need to know which one to use.


Cheers mate