Using California Lager yeast for my Oktoberfest

Hey all,

I stopped by the LHBS today to pick up supplies for tomorrows brew, and decided I'm going to do a double brew day. On a whim, I decided I was going to try an Oktoberfest w/Ale yeast.

Now, my ideal yeast would have been a Kolsch, but unfortunately my brew shop doesn't seem to keep a lot of yeast stocked.

Anyway, after looking through the wyeast pamphlet, I decided to go with a California Lager yeast. It says it provides a maltier taste and no fruityness. It also ferments lager characteristics up to 68 degrees.

I haven't decided whether I'm going to build a Son of fermentation chiller or not, so I need some advice..

Will this yeast work if it happens to creep a little above 68? If so, will I have off flavors?

I might just build the damn SOFC and go get a normal Oktoberfest yeast.

Sorry about the long post.

a lot of people who can't lager use this for octoberfests. why not use a swamp chiller or the large bucket of water with the fermenter inside it and add frozen soda bottles to keep the temp down. i use these methods and can keep my temps in the mid 60's in a 74ish degree room no problems.

No fear on the California Lager yeast - it works great.

TelemarkBrew said:

a lot of people who can't lager use this for octoberfests. why not use a swamp chiller or the large bucket of water with the fermenter inside it and add frozen soda bottles to keep the temp down. i use these methods and can keep my temps in the mid 60's in a 74ish degree room no problems.

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How accurate are your temps? The reason I'm looking into the Son of Fermentation Chiller is because it's got a thermostat on it. Also, I'm out of the house sometimes for a few days at a time. Monitoring a swamp chiller might be a little tough.

Mutilated1 said:

No fear on the California Lager yeast - it works great.

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For sure! I have used this yearst many times and it works great to say the least Takes a little longer to clear tho

So much for good yeast. I didn't have the time to make a starter, the pouch never expanded.. I pitched it, hoping it just needed more time....nothing. I'm hoping it's just got a really slow lag time because of not making a starter.

So, after about 36 hours, my airlock is finally bubbling a tiny bit. I'm afraid to open it up to see what's going on, but I also hate to trust that airlock I guess. Is this normal with lager yeasts when you don't use starters? Also, can I expect it to pick up speed after a few days of the yeast building up their armies, or should I go get another pack of yeast like I planned anyway?

Suthrncomfrt1884 said:

Is this normal with lager yeasts when you don't use starters? Also, can I expect it to pick up speed after a few days of the yeast building up their armies, or should I go get another pack of yeast like I planned anyway?

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Yes it is very normal for lager yeasts to start off very slowly without a starter. That is the main reason for doing large starters when using lager yeast. The activity will continue to increase for a couple of days, and since the yeast is working already I really do not see a reason to add a 100 billion cells to the population.

Ed

+1
Lagers are slower and take a lot longer to ferment. I doubt even if you opened up your bucket you'd see anything.

As far as controlling your fermentation temperature. I built one of these:

This was my first build. I've built several now and working on building one inside a closet.

Suthrncomfrt1884 said:

How accurate are your temps? The reason I'm looking into the Son of Fermentation Chiller is because it's got a thermostat on it. Also, I'm out of the house sometimes for a few days at a time. Monitoring a swamp chiller might be a little tough.

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I wasn't trying to convince you not to build the SoFC, just letting you know there are ways to keep temps down in the meantime, before you get it built.
you were saying in your original post that you wouldn't be able to keep the temp down on this next beer, etc. I was giving you the easy low tech way to keep the temp below ambient for this next batch, and fully understand why you want to build the SoFC for future use.

TelemarkBrew said:

I wasn't trying to convince you not to build the SoFC, just letting you know there are ways to keep temps down in the meantime, before you get it built.
you were saying in your original post that you wouldn't be able to keep the temp down on this next beer, etc. I was giving you the easy low tech way to keep the temp below ambient for this next batch, and fully understand why you want to build the SoFC for future use.

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Thanks for the info. And I am doing exactly as you suggest with the swamp chiller until I get a chance to build the SoFC this weekend.

ChillyP said:

+1
Lagers are slower and take a lot longer to ferment. I doubt even if you opened up your bucket you'd see anything.

As far as controlling your fermentation temperature. I built one of these:

This was my first build. I've built several now and working on building one inside a closet.

Click to expand...

I want to know how you cut your edges so clean. My SoFC is the most pitiful thing in existence. It makes me want to take it out back and put it out of it's misery. I spent all that money on it and it barely worked, kept trying to fall apart too. I bought a freezer and a brewer's thermostat, and called it done. Wish I hadn't wasted the money, though...

I've heard there's two different types of foam. One falls apart when you cut it, another doesn't. I think you're supposed to get the pink stuff, not the blue. Not sure which you chose. I've cut the pink stuff before with a table saw and it worked very nicely. Hopefully it will cooperate as much when I build my SoFC.

sorry to retrive a dead thread but i had questions about the cali yeast. do you have to lager it at cold temps after fermintation or just do like a 4 week secondary at normal (lets say 65 degree) temps?

I didn't have the ability to technically lager at the time I brewed this, but it turned out good. I did a 4 week primary, stuck it in a keg, and then put it in the fridge for 3 months. Since it's a hybrid yeast, it's not absolutely neccissary to do a lager step, but it certainly helps.

Suthrncomfrt1884 said:

I did a 4 week primary, stuck it in a keg, and then put it in the fridge for 3 months.

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Unless you filtered out the yeast before you kegged it, you lagered it. That's exactly how I lager -- in the serving keg!

So i will transfer to a secondary because i want to clear my primary for a brew this weekend. Would it be all good to do secondary for 2 weeks then keg it and toss it in the kegerator for a month or so? If so should I carb it or just let it sit? uncarbed with a layer of co2 on top?