Best Kit Beers I Have Had, Had No Temp Control.

[PistolPatch]

Blanket statements regarding fermentation temperatures without any mention of the particular yeast strains may not be the best advice for brewers, new or otherwise.

Very true. I should have mentioned in the first post that all the beers I mentioned were done with the kit yeast.

Doing the high temps with the better yeasts such as US56 would be a huge mistake.

Sorry for that omission but yes, I had just got back from a 7 hour lunch

Cheers,
Pat

 

[loikar]

If your beer tastes like shit, you're not doing it right......The End

 

[boingk]

Perhaps the oft-used lager/ale hybrid kit yeasts are somehow more tolerant of the higher temperatures, Patch?

 

[PistolPatch]

Perhaps the oft-used lager/ale hybrid kit yeasts are somehow more tolerant of the higher temperatures, Patch?

I certainly think there is something in that and is one thing I'd love to see discussed more boingk. I think people are a bit scared to say that they brewed a great beer at a higher temperature.

I'm like you, I'm not prepared to do the experiments but it would be nice to see them being done with the kit yeasts to see if there is anything to this.

Cheers to you,
Pat

 

[booyablack]

Well the brew that I'm bottling tomorrow was used using the kit yeast and the Coopers instructions with it said that they include yeast that is more tolerant of Aussie conditions and will survive up to 40degC!

Somehow I don't think it's recommended to try anywhere near that high. But anyway, I DID use the kit yeast so in a few weeks when I crack the first one of the batch I'll get back to this thread and let you know what it turned out like.

The other thing I forgot to mention was that initially when I pitched the yeast and began fermentation it was hot but that night it cooled to around 24degC and has been between 22-24 ever since so I don't know how this will affect the brew. I will say this though, the primary fermentation was very fast and furious!

 

[RobH]

If your beer tastes like shit, you're not doing it right......The End

... or maybe you just need to stop using the water from the toilet! :lol:

 

[Oatlands Brewer]

......LOL.....

Thanks RobH i needed a good cackell

 

[King Brown]

It could be because Cooper's yeast is known for its heat tolerance (even mentioned in Palmer's book, Link: http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-4-1.html) I've even read somewhere that the coopers brewery doesn't use temperature control, could be BS but you never know. Everytime I've brewed with a "pedigree" strain of yeast at temps any higher than 23C the result has been akin to nail polish remover, impossible to drink more than one bottle in a session and even one usually results in a headache. But it could be I'm sensitive to fusels.

 

[Nick JD]

Now that I know other chemicals are in fact produced, I'm interested in why different amounts at different temperatures, not just that "they are". Unfortunately that information is proving much more difficult to source.

Fusels are alcohols with more than two carbons (ie. ethanol has two).

Very basically, the yeast needs nitrogenous compounds to make fusel alcohols. Usually it gets this from amino acids produced by the mash or other dead yeasts or it can make it itself if stressed.

If the yeast gets its nitrogen compounds from amino acid it makes fusels. If it has a readily available source of nitrogen (like ammonium salts) it will use this and not make fusels.

The moral of the story - piss in your home brew. Ferment as high as you like.

Nah - seriously, some of these hot ferment brews that come out nice might just be because they happen accidentally to have another source of N ... or very low amino acids.

 

[stufoster]

The best beer I've ever made was an extract ale with Halertau hops and S-04 yeast. I didn't check the weather report when I decided to put on a brew, and we had a week or two of 40+ degrees. I kept the fermenter in the bath and tried valiantly to keep the temp down, but it probably averaged high 20's. Turned out to be the best beer I've made. Going to try it again this summer.

 

[Brewman_]

Firstly I must say, I have made good kit beer without temp control and have competition score sheets to verify it. Note that these beers were made in Aug - Sep in moderate to cool weather. The fermenter was at around 21 Deg.C and was at the mercy of the room temp. I have never made a good kit beer above 25Deg in my opinion, but I have drank them, since they were still OK - like they were not off.

However without temp control, I found that results were not predicatble and sometimes they were good and other times they were just OK.

With Temp control I started to use a wider variety of yeasts. I do agree that the kit yeasts are more forgiving for high temps - I let some wyeast brews get a bit warm and they were very bad. But if I get the temp right with the right yeast then what I get is better beer and more predicatble results all year round.

Temp Control for the puprose of fermentation is only one aspect of temp control I use. I keg, and also find say that for an ale if I ferment at 18 Deg.C until complete and then chill to seving temp and then add some Isinglass / finings for a day or so, I can drop alot of yeast / haze forming compounds. This creates a clearer beer and in my opion a cleaner tasting beer, and a little less "Kit" character. Then there are lager processes ect.

I find this works well for me.

Fear_n_Loath

 

[Nick JD]

One of the fusels smells like roses. One of them smells like arse.