Question: Anyone ever ferment S-189 at ale temps? I’m considering making a tropical stout, and I know one of the differences between that and a foreign extra is the use of lager yeasts at ale temps and the esters that provides. I keep S-189 on hand, but I’ve never used it over ~52 degrees. Any experience with what kind of flavors it throws at ale temps? Any experience with any other lager yeasts at ale temps (beyond California Common, that is)? Any good recommendations as to what to use for a tropical stout if S-189 isn’t your choice? Fruity esters would be good. Fruity would be very good, considering the style. Thanks!
BTW, I’ve seen previous threads on this back in 2016 and earlier. And as expected, answers ran from “don’t do it!” to “I hate that yeast, use my favorite instead!”, to”worked great!” That’s why I asked for experiences. Not that I mind anecdotal stuff, mind you.
Not to bring up an old thread that go no meaningful replies, but for the record, and for the sake of any Google searches, S-189 works great fermented semi-warm in a tropical stout. Clean, only slightly fruity, didn't over-attenuate. In fact, attenuation with this recipe was only about 72%, in line with what I wanted. So now I have at least one person with experience using S-189 at 65 degrees. And it works fine.
S-23 -- throws esters even at the medium to warm end of lager temps. S-189 -- I once used this yeast and coincidentally, my temp probe became detatched, causing my fermenter to heat into the 70s. It was a Vienna lager. Not great, not awful, not worth drinking though, IMO. 34/70 -- reputedly does well even at ale temperatures, supposedly remains pretty clean.
The brulosophy podcast talks about using imperial L17 harvest for fermenting at ale temps. There will always be haters but I’m gonna give it a try one of these days. Anyone used mangrove jacks m76 Bavarian lager?
I fermented a Dunkel at around 60F with S-189 and it way very clean and Malty. Love this yeast. Yes, I realize it was not 65F just chiming in with my S-189 experience.
