Hi All, My dad just cleared up some poorly-used space in his wine closet and we'll have room to stick a few fermenting carboys in there. it's set to 55 F and will stay there as long as there's wine in the thing, but if we can get any yeast strains that work at that temp, we'd be able to ferment beer in there as well. I don't know much about lager yeast, but that seems a bit too low for ale yeast (except maybe kolsch?). Any suggestions?
Lager yeast will do well. It won't be quite as smooth as something fermented a touch colder and lagered near freezing, but you can make some good tasting beer. Among ale yeasts, alt strains like WY1007 do well at 55F, as do Scottish strains (I've seen WY1728 keep going as low as 38F). Nottingham dry yeast and WY1056/WL001 will work if you don't mind a slower fermentation and possibly the need for a diacetyl rest. Keep in mind that heat generated by an active fermentation will raise the beer at least 5F above room temperature, more for big beers.
I think a Kolsch yeast like 2565 would work fine at 55F ambient temp, and might be the best choice. Lager strains will make beer just fine at 55F ambient, but I wouldn't expect the cleanest tasting lager fermentations (if you're making a lager style). But what kind of beer do you want to make?
well the original plan was going to be a pumpkin ale next week and then maybe a black IPA and an imperial stout for the winter. we're pretty open at this point, plus i would like to try lagers so this fall/winter might be a good time to start. we'll be able to do about two batches a month so we have room to try out new styles. i'm on long island so we do get some cold weather during the winter months, and i could probably lager a few carboys in my garage then, so getting a lager started at 55 and then dropping it by about 15-20 degrees is a definite possibility.
I have brewed a lot of Wyeast 2124 but at a bit cooler fermentation temperature (50°F). I have read where folks have had great success with 2124 fermented at warmer temperatures (even above 60°F). Below is the description of Wyeast 2124: “YEAST STRAIN: 2124 | Bohemian Lager™ This Carlsberg type yeast is the most widely used lager strain in the world. This strain produces a distinct malty profile with some ester character and a crisp finish. A versatile strain, that is great to use with lagers or Pilsners for fermentations in the 45-55°F (8-12°C) range. It may also be used for Common beer production with fermentations at 65-68°F (18-20°C). A thorough diacetyl rest is recommended after fermentation is complete.” Cheers!
Has anyone ever used WLP862 Cry Havoc, Charlie Papazian's house strain (I believe)? Supposedly it works at both lager and ale fermenting temps, so maybe that would work? I would also recommend trying San Francisco Lager or, as previously mentioned, a Kolsch strain.
I personally have not homebrewed with WLP862 which is indeed Charlie Papazian’s house yeast strain. There is an interesting story about this yeast in his book Microbrewed Adventures. Charlie received this yeast (it is a lager yeast) in a small test tube in 1983 from Anheuser-Busch; he was provided this yeast to brew a number of kegs of homebrew for an event at Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis. For ten years Charlie tried to find the origin of that yeast strain. Finally somebody at Anheuser-Busch ‘cracked’ and stated: “that yeast was originally cultured from a keg of Budweiser.” Charlie writes: “I was in shock. And then a huge homebrew inspired grin crossed my face and I began chuckling uncontrollably. All those barley wines, doppelbocks, India pale ales, brown ales, porters, pilseners, Oktoberfest beers, English ales, and Irish stouts unknowingly made from a cultured Budweiser yeast!” Cheers!
I have a similar cellar setup. Mine is set to 56 but will go as high as 61 before it kicks in to cool down. I bet if your dad's cellar is set at 55, the average is probably closer to 58. When you figure the internal temp of the beer during ferment is going to be 5+ the outside temp, you have a ton of options. Honestly, I think its perfect for almost any ale yeast and will produce very clean beer. Nottingham works great at that temp. I think its to warm for lager yeasts but works OK with German Ale or Kolsch Yeast for lagered ales.
Jack, you should re-read the section on page 37. Charlie states that he called in a favor from "a brewing laboratory". He has stated in a talk that he gave at an NHC that I was at, that his friend worked at Coors, and Golden is not too far from Boulder. He could never get the yeast source information from the first tech. He got another friend who was working in the lab to find out what the yeast was, and found out it was cultured from a keg of Bud, at Coors.
This. Should be pretty easy to pitch at ideal ale temps with an ambient 55F, given a brew belt and controller. As others have said, it's a little on the high side for lagers, but probably workable, especially using the ol' wet t-shirt trick or something similar. Remember that the fermentation temp tends to be 5-10 degress above ambient, so that would probably take you out of the acceptable lager range if you don't take steps to lower it a bit.
