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Using Windsor, Fermenter reached 77º

Willards

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This ever happen to anyone else? How boned is my brown ale? 

I know this particular yeast isn't supposed to go beyond 70º if you don't want banana esters.  Despite my house being 60º, my fermometer is a high temp (perhaps due to violent fermentation). There's a lot going on in the brew, so I hope that might distract from any off flavors. 

For reference, here is my extract recipe for 5 gallons, based on a Moose Drool clone kit:

0.25 lb caramel 80L
0.25 lb pale chocolate
0.125 lb black

6 lbs amber syrup
1 lb amber dme
1 lb brown sugar 60 min
2 lb brown sugar 15 min

1 oz US Goldings 60 min
1 oz Liberty 45 min
1 oz Willamette 15 min

1 lb lactose 15 min

Adding vanilla tincture at bottling
 
I expect to read two to four degrees above ambient on the fermometer on an active batch. 

What was the temp of the wort when you pitched the yeast?

Yeast produces heat, and large volumes of liquid take a while to chill.

I've had times where I only chilled it to 70s or even low 80s, expecting it to cool right down in the room. Except that it takes a while to shed those last ten or fifteen degrees. So long that sometimes before it gets all the way down, the yeast kicks in and produces heat.  That slows or even stops further chilling.

That's why I always chill ales to at least 65 before pitching yeast.
 
Good to know!  I've always followed brew kit instructions to pitch in the 70s.  I will do this from now on. 

By the way, I racked to secondary today, and when I tasted my gravity sample, I did notice some esters.  I can get over that.  Otherwise, the integrity of the brew is intact!
 
I had the same problem when starting brewing with kits.
Followed the instructions to the letter and had some funky batches.
I have no idea why the kit instructions - and even the instructions on yeast vials - say to pitch at such a high temperature.
 
I think you'll be fine just the same.  I keep my house at 70 ambient but during active fermentation I see the temp reach 76.  The ale scale is 65-75 anyway and with.  If you ever get to kegging then cold crash and that can assist is reducing off flavors as well.
 
On that note, I'm relatively new to brewing, and I know some of the kit instructions are off, but not sure which ones.

I know these things at least:
-don't use all the priming sugar unless appropriate for the style
-(just learned) don't pitch at 78°.

What other kit instructions are off? I'd like to get rid of the "homebrew taste" in my beers.
 
Kit instructions are like the directions on a can of biscuits. They don't teach jack about baking.

Best to read a book or two.  Like this one. http://www.howtobrew.com/
 
Unless it's reasonable fresh, appropriate-to-style yeast, throw away whatever is in the kit. I'm not disparaging dry yeast—in fact, I pretty much brew almost exclusively with dry yeast—but unless you know that it's not been sitting around awhile, don't use it.

Been a long time since I brewed extract, but I know that once I started doing late extract additions—only doing a partial addition early to help with hop isomerization—my beer stopped tasting like, well, it was from a can. Anyway, the gist is that you only add a portion of the extract at the beginning of the boil, and then add the bulk later (with about 15 minutes to go). Since the extract has already been boiled to produce it, minimizing that amount of time that it boils again can help reduce off flavors.

Also, don't buy kits. I know it's an easy way to get what you need for a brew, but most of the kits have their ingredient sheets posted online, so if you find that for a particular beer clone or style, just buy fresh ingredients to match it. How long has that stuff been sitting in a box?

Oh, and switch to all grain as soon as you can :)
 
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