Jadam JMS temperature
Hi, Support :) is it necessary to heaten up JMS once it's temperature drops down below 18 degrees Celsius?
The answer
This is from the book -- Close the lid and leave under the sun for culturing. Place it in the same environmental condition as the crops. Leave it at ambient temperature. It takes 1-3 days till completion. It is faster, and there are more foam in summer. If water temperature drops below 18°C (64.4°F), use an electric heater to keep at 20°C (68°F) and wrap the container with insulation. (If you use cold underground water, take out the water and leave for a day for it to warm before use.) --
I think this is really dependent on volume of JMS we are making ....in the book he says 500L (132g) is the volume that he is doing and to warm that much water up sitting in the sun after it has gotten really cold is not easy so by putting a heater in there to keep it warm on cold nights so that the temp does not drop so much is important to brewing a good batch of microbes ....but if we are making a smaller batch ie: in my case i make 3 gallons (11L) of JMS for my garden cause it gets mixed at a 10-1 ratio with water so in the end i have 30 gallons (113L) to drench my garden with ...so in that case i dont use a heater cause the sun warms up that small volume of water just fine after a cold night ... in early spring or late fall it will take up to 5-6 days to be ready instead of 3-4 as it does in the summer ...i would think that up to about a 55 gallon (208L) drum sitting out in the sun would not need a heater and would heat just fine in the sun and even better if it was black in color for a bit more passive solar heating
From the KNF library
From the KNF library
Drafted by Claude from Office Hours and the books
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Sep 2026
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3 sources
The library gives no temperature cutoff for JMS. It does give a way to judge a cool batch.
Asked whether JMS can go bad while fermenting in cool temperatures, Drake says to trust your nose. A sweet or sourdough smell means it is good. A rotten egg or vomit smell means it has gone anaerobic. (Office Hours Ep. 28, 47:13)
- Use it while it is actively bubbling and pulling away from the barrel's edge. (Office Hours Ep. 129, 57:29)
- Look for bubble rings pulling from the edge, with a sweet or sour smell. (Office Hours Ep. 109, 58:51)
- Once bubbling stops and it smells like rot, it has gone anaerobic. (Office Hours Ep. 129, 57:29)
- A stinky batch means putrefying microbes have taken over. (Office Hours Ep. 109, 58:51)
So Drake judges by smell and bubbling, not by the thermometer alone.
Sources
- 47:13 Office Hours Ep. 28 (Apr 2022) — Beef Aminos, Coral Calcium, and IMO Troubleshooting · “sweet or sourdough smell means it's good, rotten egg or vomit smell means it's gone anaerobic”
- 58:51 Office Hours Ep. 109 (Jan 2024) — JMS Microbe Recipe, IMO Harvest Timing, Pig Butchering · “Watch for bubble rings pulling away from the edge with a sweet or sour smell; once it turns stinky, fertilizer and putrefying microbes have taken over.”
- 57:29 Office Hours Ep. 129 (Jun 2024) — Tomato Blight Protectors, IMO Baths, Jadam Microbe Solution · “Use it while it's actively bubbling and pulling from the barrel's edge; once bubbling stops and it smells like rot, it's gone anaerobic.”
