Lager Temperature Confusion

G'day.

I'm a novice brewer and I'm having some difficulty understanding how I should be brewing my first Lager, up to this point all I have been brewing is Ales.

I'm trying to brew something similar in taste to a "Toohey's New" Lager, which might not be too popular known on this board as it's an Australian Lager, these are the ingredients I used:

• 1.7kg (3.74lbs) of Coopers Heritage Lager Concentrate
• 1kg (2.2lbs) of Brewers Blend #11 (Contains 1/4 malt, 3/4 brewing sugars)
• Pride of Ringwood Hops (Infusion Method)
• 22L (5.81 gallons) of Water
• 7g of Coopers Heritage Lager Yeast (Pitched at 30*C/86*F)

Anyway my issue is the amount of conflicting advice I've been given about the brew. The concentrate instructions and some sites are saying just to just let it ferment at around 24*C/75*F.

Another set of advice is to pitch around 30*C/86*F then as soon as fermentation starts brew at as low as 12*C/53*F until bottling.

The recipe itself says to brew between 14*C/57*F - 16*C/64*F, however I thought pitching it at this temperature would be too low?

My main concern with the cold brewing is that I will hibernate the yeast as it's packet says it only works between 12*C/53*F and 40*C/104*F, I do have a second fridge that I can set to around that temperature though if that is the way to go. Hoping someone can give me good advice to clear all this confusion up for which is the best way to work. Currently the brew is about 24hrs along it's at the fermenting stage at 1031SG (OG was 1039SG) and temperature at 24*C/75*F.

Hope my conversions are right, thanks for your time.

I generally go by what the yeast can handle. They are your workers, so treat them they way they should be treated. I'm using a Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager yeast for an Oktoberfest. Wyeast says that it should be fermented between 46F and 58F, so I'm lagering at 50F. The yeast are doing their thing and the beer is smelling mighty fine.

There are all sorts of things you can look at regarding lagering, but if your yeast can't handle the temps others say to use, don't do it. Keep those boys comfortable.

There are some things that can be done in regards to temperature changes, but to do this, it is worth knowing what the yeast is going to do. Using some yeasts will impart certain flavors at the low end of their tolerance, and others at the high end, so some people might start the fermentation warm and cool it down and vise versa. Just make sure that ultimately, the yeast will ferment at a temp that allows them to work best.

Get the temp down asap, around 55 minimum. Lagers are meant to be cold fermented. You will have crap beer if you ferment it that warm.


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I don't know, if the packet says between 53*F and 104* (a huge range, with an absurd high end), then this may not be lager yeast. There's a recent thread about this but I'm not sure if it was about the Heritage lager or the Pilsener (which does supply true lager yeast).

It sure doesn't sound like you have true lager yeast with that temp range. If this is a "lager" kit that you bought, my money is on the yeast being an ale or hybrid strain. The 104F max temp probably isn't for fermentation. I would guess that it is the max temp if you want to bloom the yeast before pitching.

At any rate, I'd do what wildwest said. Get it down to 55F if you want it to taste like a lager.

ferment cold - 45-55 deg f. then lager at 38-40. if the yeast cant handle it, the arent lager yeast.

thats why i hate kits.

these are lager type temp ranges. brew/ferment/lager accordingly