Draught style lager - temps too high - ale yeast... bad?

[wombat]

hi all,
i just put down recently the following brew:

1kg pale malt grain
1.7kg morgan's stockman's draught brew kit
500g light malt extract
250g maltodextrin
100g dextrose
12g pride of ringwood finishing hops

yeast as included, 'lager' yeast but says 15-30deg C recommended range...

i really don't think that this yeast is a real lager yeast but anyway...
this brew started at 1050 and fermented viciously for a couple of days, during which time our temps have been rising like mad (35deg C+ day today), but the last three days have been really hot, and although the fermenter lock is still moving, the gravity hasn't dropped from 1020 since monday. (it was put down on saturday). so today, i decided something had to be done in case my yeast had died during one of 38deg C max temps that had been hit more than once. i really didn't want to have an infected batch due to mould-favouring temps and the lager yeast dying.

so today, i pulled out one of my chilled cooper's sparkling ale yeast starters. i got it going again (not hard to do when it's more than 30deg C) and pitched it into the fermenter. i really didn't want to have to do this - and normally i wouldn't have - but something needed to be done and it looked as if the yeast i got with the kit was an ale yeast anyway. if i was sure it was a real lager yeast, i would've had it in the lager fridge anyway and this wouldn't be a problem, but it said it needed higher than 15deg C and i don't think i can go much past 12-13deg C in the lager fridge. also, i have to be at uni all day so i can't continually douse it (the fermenter) with cold water to keep it cool

so i put this question to you: will my morgan's stockman's bastard draught be all right? do you think i'll be able to bring it down to it's target FG maximum allowable of 1014? will it not end up the ice cold full of character bastard lager that i'd hoped for? or will it taste like fruit punch?? will global warming eventually become a problem for a nation other than tuvalu? will microsoft ever bring out a beer that crashes frequenly and multiplies itself to a massive clutter if left lying around in solitary?
-wombat

[Dogger Dan]

Wombat,

Relax man and have a homebrew. All will be well. I have done lagers with ale yeasts and all that stuff and as long as you weren't aiming to match a brand then you will be good and in a wee short while you will be sucking on frosties saying what me worry.

As far as having character, every beer has character, even the crap stuff, the character is that it is crappy. I am yet to try a bad homebrew and no real human being can match that Little Speckled Hen or what ever it was that i had the misfortune of buying (by the way i gave my last two cans to my neighbour and his son in a bit of an experiment, that being if it is free no one will complain)

OK Global Warming, have heard something about that, my feelings are as long as I have to shovel that white crap that falls out of the sky then there is no such beast. Lost 4 days at work last year cause highways were closed (shitty, hate it when I have to drink homebrew on days that end in a Y) My mates were nutted cause the beer store was closed to. Sucks to be them.

In answer to Microsoft problem. do you really want Bill involved in your homebrew?

Thanks for the food for thought, I had two glasses of my chocolate porter figuring this one out

Dogger

[wombat]

thanks for that dogger, i'm glad my beer will be ok.
as for bill, i really don't want him anywhere near my beers - they'd probably connect themselves to the internet and call microsoft u.s. and leave the line open just to tell them my favourite colour is red...
chocolate porter? is it a nice drop? is the recipe a secret or can we have it?
thanks.
-wombat

[thehipone]

Yeah, it should turn out ok, just maybe not exactly the style you were after.
You need to be careful fermenting at such high temperatures as it increases the production of higher alcohols. I had a batch made last summer that fermented at 30+ C that was pure headache juice. Just something to be aware of.

You might want to try the wet-blanket or water bath approach to keep your tmeperatures at least a little lower and stable.

[wombat]

i have the fermenter sitting on top of a large cold steel freezer in the laundry which is always 2-3deg C cooler than outside. today it's a bit cooler though, so that's a bit nicer
i have another question for all though... now that the temps are at about 28deg C and falling, (assuming that some of the original lager yeast lived) will the lager yeast be able to continue fermenting out the wort with the sparkling ale yeast in there? or will the sparkling ale yeast take over and mutate the other yeast beyond all recognition?
also, anyone here ever used a morgan's stockman's draught kit before? was it a nice enough beer?
-wombat

[wombat]

something else i forgot to add... everytime i take a SG reading, the beer looks really cloudy like you can hardly see through it. it did this before i started fermenting, but the cloudiness would settle before it was fermented and now it just hangs there. it looks like pineapple and coconut juice. smells nice though could this be that my mash wasn't finished? i mashed at about 66deg C for 1hr 15 mins and poured the mash back through the grains a few times as well as sparged at 70deg C. or is just a sign that fermentation is still going on as the yeast is still in the beer. could this be dead yeast, forever suspended in time? like, is it starch/protein haze or yeast haze? either way, do you think i'll need to rack this one off? if so, what finings should i use? is household gelatine ok to use or will it take too much away from the flavour? how much should i use?
thanks all in advance
-wombat

[Dogger Dan]

Wombat,

Relax man you are going to kill this beer if you aren't carefull LOL

As far as the yeast goes, all bets are off as to what is going on there, just be assured all will be fine.

If it is yeast in suspension, it will drop over time. You can hurry it with a geletin from the homebrew shop, follow the instructions on the bottle. If it is a protein haze then there is not much you can do. It is fine, it wont kill you. You can try filtering if you want with a number 1 filter.

To avoid the protein hazes in future, brew with 1 gram of chocolate malt. It will pull out the proteins and wont adversly affect the colour of your beer


Dogger