70F ok?

I have a basement Closet that stays at 70F no matter what.
Is this low enough to ferment in? I'm making a pilsner and would wait until winter to attempt a Lager (Michigan), but even when it's brutally hot, this closet stays at 70.

whatd'ya think?

Many liquid yeasts are fine at 70F & dried yeasts all work in that range.

I may be confused, but the last i knew a Pilsner was a Lager. What am i missing?

KA6GZJ said:

I may be confused, but the last i knew a Pilsner was a Lager. What am i missing?

Click to expand...

you aren't missing anything. a pilsner is a lager.

For lagering you'll want your brew to ferment for about a day then lower the temp to about 35F. Optimum is lower it 5F per day until it gets down to 35F.

After a week or so you'll want to raise the temp to about 70F again for a day or so, rack to the secondary (carboy) then place it in the fridge again for several months.

Most of us can't do it by the book so we fudge a lot.

Yeah sorry, I meant I won't attempt LAGERING (Verb) not a Lager (noun) until winter.
My mitake.

also failed to mention that it's Liquid yeast from a Williams brewing Kit (California pilsner)

so no one thinks that I should try a cooler spot (I'm not sure i have one)

Keep in mind that the beer in the fermenter will not be the same temperature as the ambient air temperature that the fermenter is in. Fermentation is an exothermic process. The yeast give off heat as they convert the fermentable sugars to alcohol and CO2.

Typically you will find that the beer in the fermenter will be several degrees higher the ambient air. 70˚F in the closet could mean the beer is fermenting at 75˚F or higher during the more aggressive primary phase. Once things settle down the temp in the fermenter will drop back toward the ambient temp. Wrapping a wet towel over it and having a fan blowing over it (swamp cooler) can lower the temp in the fermenter several degrees.

John

Thanks, that was my question.
I'm pretty sure that all my Solvent brews in College were caused by high fermenting temps, so I'm paranoid about that.

I'd rather not screw around with that kinda crap, but I will if I have to.

I'll drop a Thermo in one more spot in my basement I have in mind...

it's really not a lager unless it's aged/cold stored.

i'd stick with ales untill you can control the temp at the lower end of the spectrum, 35-45 constantly.

well a Pilsner is a non Lagered Lager, no?

I really prefer Lager style beers to ales, at least unitl I can perfect my own hop intense recipe.

a higher quality thermometer reads 65F actually, I think that'll work.

as for TRUE Lager, I'll wait until a garage sale or moving freind presents an old fridge.

California Pilsner?

Probably California Lager. Unique strain that will ferment with Lager properties up to 65 degrees. Don't let it get hotter than 65!

Basically, what you'll end up with, brewing at that temp with a lager yeast, will be a "Steam" beer or "California Common". Pilsners, as far as I know, are also cold aged (lagered), the name implies a style of beer that originated in Pilsen, in the Chech Republic.

The only thing I can tell you is...

I brewed a couple batches of German Pilsner and the temps were too high. (before I had a beer fridge.) The beers were pretty undrinkable. There was a definite solvent flavor, quite strong in fact. I think both batches were brewed at around 60+ degrees. I'm currently brewing several lagers using my beer fridge. I have yet to try any of them, but the hydrometer samples show none of the solvent flavor that my previous batches did.

Stick with ales until you can buy a fridge. None of my lagers attempts ever turned out right, all due to the high temps IMO.

hmm, well Williams lists it as intermediate, which I think means 2 stage fermentation.
Their description indicates that it's suitable for "room temperature" fermenting.

While the instructions say


NOW, don;t miss my point. I would NEVER second guess the members of this board and they're 100,000's of gallons of beer made.
but it is likely that this recipe is more designed to brew at room temperature
than it is an actual Pilsner.

but there's only one way to tell, and the proof is in the Primary.

here's to hoping we've all been mislead by the title "California Pilsner"


http://www.williamsbrewing.com/CALIFORNIA_PILSNER_P284C183.cfm

"in one to three days at toom temperature (not below 60F ideally 60F-65F) Fermentation will begin"

Did it mean to say tomb temperature?

One to three days to begin fermentation is way too long.

Follow directions.

Ferment at 60-65 degrees.


The yeast is a steam yeast