ferment lager yeast like an ale?

i brewed a batch with some friends and they got a lager yeast instead of an ale. we don't have the option of chilling it with a fridge so what are we in for? i wanted to wait until we got the right yeast to pitch it but i was out voted and i'm now looking at it as an experiment.

Look up Steam Style beers that may help you in knowing what you are going to end up with

thanks, i just made a major connection. i've always thought that you had to "lager" a lager yeast. i guess this isn't true which is great because i'm trying to make a california common ale. this will work after all...

any other thoughts, this is a new realm to me.

is there a name for the opposite? brewing a lager with ale yeast?

Daburban - You will still make beer and it will most likely be good given time. Lager yeast will not be the same at higher temps, and vice versa for ales at lower temps.
I do not mess with switching up yeast because both the yeast strains and the brewing tradition have been around a lot longer than me. But, the best brews I have made have been due to major mistakes, and I don't think I could reproduce them if I tried.
In any case, Welcome to the forum, and brew some good beer.

Thanks Kauai Kahuna... Guess we're on the same time zone. I'm living in Volcano on the big island right now.

How long do you think i should ferment this for? I'm thinking 1 week primary 2 weeks secondary. Sound good?

Daburban said:

Thanks Kauai Kahuna... Guess we're on the same time zone. I'm living in Volcano on the big island right now.

How long do you think i should ferment this for? I'm thinking 1 week primary 2 weeks secondary. Sound good?

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If you are living in a volcano then you need some serious cooling chamber to keep the temperature down

AlTheGud1sRtaken said:

is there a name for the opposite? brewing a lager with ale yeast?

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Well, if you lower the ale yeast down to lager temperatures, the ale yeast will go dormant and won't ferment. You can always use a clean tasting yeast like nottingham and ferment at 59 degrees, until it's finished, and then lager it. That will give you an almost-lager like quality. Any lower though, and the yeast will not work.

Daburban said:

How long do you think i should ferment this for? I'm thinking 1 week primary 2 weeks secondary. Sound good?

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Maybe. It depends on how long it takes to finish in primary, and then I'd consider longer in secondary to clean up some of the off-flavors from the high temperature ferment. You may get a sulfur-y note for a couple of weeks from the lager yeast fermenting at ale temps. I never really plan out the timing of a lager or steam beer- it just takes as long as it takes.

Keep it as cool as you can, especially for the first 3-4 days. I use 24oz soda bottles filled with water and frozen. Two of those swapped out 3x a day (every 8 hours) will keep my fermentation at 60-62*F in a 72*F room. My fermentation chamber is a 32 gallon trash can with 5 gallons of water in it.



Right now I'm almost through fermentation of a blonde ale in the "chamber" using WLP029 German Ale yeast. Pitching a big starter and keeping it around 62*F creates a lager-like beer since this strain ferments clean and produces some sulfur at low temps (just like a lager yeast does).

Really interesting tactic Sach, Its been a day already. Maybe i can modify it later tonight. I am curious to see how this turns out without any chilling though.

I have a larger that I’ve been doing for about 2 weeks at a temp in the low 60’s and the fermentation went well, but I was thinking of putting it in a secondary and then moving it outside to my tool shred to lower the temp for another 2 weeks. I know the larger is supposed to be around 50 but what happens if it goes lower than that? I’m guessing it will average around 40 outside in my tool shed.

I'd let it rest for another week at room temp before taking it outside since the yeast won't be able to cleanup diacetyl, acetylaldehyde or other stuff if you crash cool it too soon. After that, it's OK to cool it down to 40, heck I have only done a few lagers and I lagered at 42*F after primary fermentation because I lager in my kegerator next to my kegs. Unorthodox but hey, the beer comes out great.