Using lager yeast with ale kit?

Okey dokey! Here's my dilemma. I have two kits from NB: the Three-Hearted Ale and the Belgian Double Ale.

I live in a cold cabin in the middle of the woods in West Virginia. I am pining for some home brew. But the old cabin is regularly between 45-60 degrees when I am not home and a fire is not burning.

The kits I have are old, so I don't want to use the yeast that came with them any way.

I was wondering - "why not get some lager yeast that grows in cold temps and just use that instead. After all it's just malt and hops like the lager kits, right?"

I'm thinking I can make some beer this way.

Any help/comments? THANKS!

100% possible. Lagers take longer to ferment though and I've read they smell different but don't remember anything the last time I made one.

A lager yeast will work fine. Another alternative is to use an ale yeast that tolerates colder temps.

You can also buffer the temperature swings by using a square cooler with some water in it to contain your fermenter. This will help the fermenting beer from cooling down much when you are gone.

Wyeast 1728 | Scottish Ale works beautifully at 55°

Double_D said:

100% possible. Lagers take longer to ferment though and I've read they smell different but don't remember anything the last time I made one.

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for the help!

BargainFittings said:

A lager yeast will work fine. Another alternative is to use an ale yeast that tolerates colder temps.

You can also buffer the temperature swings by using a square cooler with some water in it to contain your fermenter. This will help the fermenting beer from cooling down much when you are gone.

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot!

Mongrel said:

Wyeast 1728 | Scottish Ale works beautifully at 55°

Click to expand...

ThanksMongrel!

I ordered White Labs Bavarian Bock yeast that claims to do well at 48 degrees.

Thanks for the advice. I'll report how the beer turns out.