Have I Broken my Brew??!!

[Dribble]

Started my brew of Coopers APA on Sunday morning adding 500g Spraymalt Lite and 300g Sugar, topping up with water to the 36 pint mark rather than 40. Everything seemed to be going well so i took a hydrometer reading yesterday morning which said 1006 but the temp was a bit high at 29 degrees, so I turned my heating belt off so as not to damage the yeast.

As a bit of background, I am brewing upstairs in an old workshop which until a few days ago had no heating. Now it has been plumbed in with some radiators downstairs. I kept a check on the first few days of the brew and the temp with my belt was sitting at a steady 24 degrees (about 3 degrees higher than ideal but still ok).

The instructions on the packet say the yeast is fine between 18 and 32 degrees but ideal range is between 21 and 27.

However, today the temp has dropped to 19 degrees and the hydrometer reading has risen to 1007 from 1006 yesterday...have I broken my brew or is the reading just being affected by the cooler temp???

Any advice would be appreciated!

[twentyfootwilf]

I'm sure it will be ok, the sg reading will increase a little with lower temp. Most hydrometers are calibrated to 20c so when taking a reading at temps above that, the sg will be slightly higher than shown. I'm guessing that given your readings the fermentation is about finished. See what it is tomorrow and if the same you can be pretty certain it's done. The higher temp that it has undergone will have speeded things up a bit, that's all.

[twentyfootwilf]

Just checked on an sg calculator and 1.006 at 29c is really 1.009 and 1.007 at 19c is the same 1.007

[Dribble]

Fantastic, that's put my mind at ease a bit! Never knew there were sg calculators, they seem like a pretty handy piece of kit. Are they online somewhere?

Will check the sg again tomorrow then and assuming it's the same, i will keg it up! If not, I guess I should check again the next day?

[mickhew]

I think you'll find that this "The instructions on the packet say the yeast is fine between 18 and 32 degrees but ideal range is between 21 and 27." means that you can PITCH the yeast between 18-32, but not FERMENT within that range. I've never femented a brew at 32 degrees, but if I did I'd expect it to taste rough.