Good lager yeasts for fermenting at ale temperatures?

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NonServiam

NonServiam

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So as I understand it, California Common and Cream Ale are the two American beer styles made by fermenting lager yeasts at ale temperatures (frequently, anyway; see the wiki). I was thinking of brewing a cream ale in the next week or so, and would like to try this technique. My question is whether there are any particular lager yeast strains that are recommended for high-temperature fermentation, and whether there are any that should categorically be avoided. I've read that some lager yeasts can give nasty flavors (sulfur, etc) when fermented above 60F or so, so I'm kind of worried. In particular, I happen to have the Fermentis S-23 "Saflager" yeast on hand, and was wondering if anyone has any experience fermenting it in the 60s.
 
NonServiam said:
So as I understand it, California Common and Cream Ale are the two American beer styles made by fermenting lager yeasts at ale temperatures (frequently, anyway; see the wiki). I was thinking of brewing a cream ale in the next week or so, and would like to try this technique. My question is whether there are any particular lager yeast strains that are recommended for high-temperature fermentation, and whether there are any that should categorically be avoided. I've read that some lager yeasts can give nasty flavors (sulfur, etc) when fermented above 60F or so, so I'm kind of worried. In particular, I happen to have the Fermentis S-23 "Saflager" yeast on hand, and was wondering if anyone has any experience fermenting it in the 60s.
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I like California common fermented with the California lager yeast. That does well up to about 65 degrees, but I've always done it in the low 60s and then lowered the temp to the mid to high 40s for some cold conditioning.

I don't think I'd like a cream ale brewed with lager yeast at ale temperatures. A cream ale is pretty light, and any off-flavors would be apparent. I like to use a clean well attenuating ale yeast at low temperatures for cream ales. Like, Nottingham at 59 degrees. That will produce a very nice cream ale. Or, for liquid yeast, 1056 at 62 degrees or so will also make a great cream ale. I can't think of any lager yeast that I'd like to use in such a delicate flavored ale like that.
 
Cool, thanks for the advice, Yooper. I agree that the delicate balance of a cream ale calls for some caution, but I found this thread on another board where a number of people report using S-23 at ale temperatures with some success (in cream ales, even), so I think I'll go ahead and give it a try... maybe blend it with US-05 or something.
 
Interesting. I've always thought of Cal. Common & Cream Ale as opposite approaches to the same problem. California Common uses lager yeast at ale temperatures while Cream Ale uses ale yeast, Kolsch yeast, specifically, in mine, at or near lager temperatures.

Chad
 
I think you get better 'psuedo-lager's by fermenting with a good clean ale yeast at lowish temps rather than lager yeasts at ale temps. us05/001/1056 around 60 is extremely clean.
 

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