First brew advice - Morgans amber ale + what?

[Seeker]

Hi all,

Could I ask for some specific advice -please?

I'm reading up on all gerenal advice so no need to go over old ground, but I feel in need of advice for my specific circumstances and goal.

Brew location - Gold Coast.
Brew date - February.
Beer wanted - as close to English Bitter as possible. Malty, hoppy, heady & full bodied (Yorkshire Bitter being preferable)
Normal starter kit ready to rock.
1 kg light dried malt extract
1kg dark dired malt extract

I have full unfettered use of a garage, and somewhat limited use of house bathrooms and cupboards.

I'm planning to buy maybe a Windsor yeast and throwing away the kit one, and I'm happy to buy more stuff & hops if advised.


1. What would the best recipe to get to my goal?
2. Is putting the FV in a cool bath with wet cloth around it going to keep the tempature low enough?

I'm also happy to buy a different tin if required, but the Amber ale can supposedly clone Kilkenny, so I thought it may also be able to make a beer with similar body that actually tastes of beer too

 

[brouhaha]

What sort of ambient temps do you get in your garage? In my experience I've only been able to drop a few degrees using a water bath/wet towel.

 

[Seeker]

I'm not sure as I've not got a themometer yet - should get one this week, so I'll reply.

It gets pretty hot though.

House is comfortable without aircon on most of the time, and a side bathroom doesn't get any sun at all.

I'll buy and convert a fridge for later brews, but not for this one.

 

[indica86]

I used Mangrove Jack's Burton Union yeast in a ESB and it was a cracking beer. Malty like milo, lovely stuff.

Can + 1kg DME + gppd yeast shpuld be nice.
Any hops around? Some English style hops should help.

 

[pat86]

Fuggles is quite an affordable and easy to get option that would suit.

Temp control as best as you can - particularly the first 4 days or so of the ferment.

And even for a straight forward brew, use IanH's spreadsheet to plug things in so you can look back and tweak ingredients/ process in the future - good luck!

 

[Seeker]

Great, thanks guys.

I got a thermometer now so will take readings around the house to find temperature ranges.

 

[dicko]

With my experience with Windsor yeast I would not use it in the Aussie summer without some form of temp control.
It will be very fruity and it will be or at least can be a violent fermenter quite often wanting to climb out of the fermenter.
I wont use it above 17 / 18 deg

 

[Judanero]

Also might be worth adding the kit yeast to a cup of boiling water and adding that to your wort before aerating and pitching the Windsor/burtons (wyeast ringwood ale) yeast.

Kit yeast boiled up will provide some nutrients to the yeast you're using to actually ferment with.

 

[pat86]

Given there is no temp control for this one, 17-18 degrees seems a bit difficult. Does anyone have another yeast to recommend for and English ale? I've used Windsor before but fermented at ~20-22C which sounds like it still could have been too warm.

Would Seeker be better off using the kit yeast or Coopers yeast if he is probably going to have temps of 20-24C?

 

[wereprawn]

Could try wrapping your brew in towels with ice or use a water and ice bath in the laundry sink/large esky for temp control. Soft drink or juice bottles work well for containers to freeze the water in.

Some specialty grains would go a long way to get the big malt flavour ,richness and head retention you require. Maybe something like 300 g of crystal 60 or the same amount of caraamber and 100 g of victory or biscuit. Others on here may be able to recommend a better type though.

As stated above fuggles sounds like the go with the hops.

With the yeast you would want one that will accentuate the malt. Have not used Winsor myself but it should suit.

 

[dicko]

Why not go S04 or US 05 dry yeast if you dont want to go the liquid yeast route. They will tolerate the higher temps for fermentation and will finish fairly neutral if the temp doesn't get too high.
They will generally chug along at 22 quite happily.

 

[brouhaha]

Why not go S04 or US 05 dry yeast if you dont want to go the liquid yeast route. They will tolerate the higher temps for fermentation and will finish fairly neutral if the temp doesn't get too high.
They will generally chug along at 22 quite happily.

Personally I've found S04 to give off heaps of esters at anything above 20°. That was before I was aerating properly though, perhaps that could have been to blame. US-05 though, that bad boy is happy and clean right up to 22, 23°.

 

[dicko]

As others report, I have had no problems with S04 but I do have good aeration and general yeast and fermentation practices in place. S04 at even 22 deg would not throw the fruitiness that Windsor will give you at 20. If I wanted to use a yeast that gave me low attenuation as does Windsor I would be inclined to use Wy 1469.

And another liquid that would be good would be Wy1084

 

[Seeker]

Ok - done temperature readings last night and this morning - the coolest part of the house is still 26c first thing this morning.

I'm going to take wereprawns advice and try a big Eskie, and towels & ice packs - great idea of using frozen drinks bottles as I can rotate regularly and make sure there's always one in there. I work from home so I can periodically adjust temperature. I'll aim for 21c but the chosen method is going to cause fluctuations I suspect.

I've dropped the Windsor yeast from the plan until I get a fridge & I've bought some Nottingham yeast which would seem more main stream - a better choice?

I've also bought a pack of pre mixed dried malts, sugars and Fuggles which I may try first before the Morgans.

I have Fuggles pellets in a packet too.

Itching to get started!

Thanks again for all your help. It's forums like this that have prompted me to give this all a try. I've done the old kits 25 years ago with universally awful results, but now the internet allows such access to information and collaboration that real progress can be made by anyone with a mind to.

It's obvious to me that people are making great beers, and if one person can then anyone can.