BB Oktoberfest and yeast question

[DieterVonBrauhaus]

Quick question for you all out there, would you ferment a Brewers Best Oktoberfest with a White Labs liquid German Ale/Kolsch Yeast WLP029? I don't have a way to lager and some say you can use ale yeast.
Second what can I brew using White Labs liquid European Ale Yeast WLP011?
Thanks guys. BTW I love this site.

 

[Bottenbrew]

Are you in an apartment or a house? Living in Illinois you should be able to lager. As to yeast, before I had a lagering setup I still used lager yeast and got some pretty decent results, just rack to a secondary and let it sit for a while. I have seen people use a Kolsch yeast to do a lageresque brew, but results have been mixed.

 

[DieterVonBrauhaus]

House with a full basement, but the basement temps go no lower than 58, even shut off the furnace vents. Outside is too unstable right or......?

 

[rjwhite41]

Get a tub or cooler, fill it half way with water, place on the floor in your basement, place carboy in water, cover carboy with a towel or blanket and add a couple of ice bottles every morning to keep a temp around 50. You can lager it in bottles. Problem solved. I have a fridge to lager but that's how I do the primary. Works great in winter, PITA in summer.

 

[Bottenbrew]

Yeah I procured my son's old wading pool and filled it up with water and ice bottles with a T-shirt over the carboy when I was just getting started. It isn't optimal but it does a decent job. Bottling and then putting them in the pool would have worked even better now that I think about it. You can even skip the ice bottles and go harvest a couple buckets of snow 3-4 times a day to save some money there too, if where you are is anything like the Quad Cities where my inlaws are there is an abundance of free snow for the taking right now.

 

[rjwhite41]

You could use snow but you'll have to drain it periodically. I use old water bottles that I fill with tap water and keep frozen in a freezer. I have about 20 of them since I also use them when doing a pre chiller.

 

[DieterVonBrauhaus]

These are all great answers and will help a lot on how to do lagers with out a fridge, but the main concern can I use White Labs liquid European Ale Yeast WLP011 for an Oktoberfest

 

[pstrohs]

You won't get the same characteristics that a lager yeast will provide, but you can still make a good beer. I made BierMuncher's OktoberFAST Ale with Wyeast 1007-German Ale and it turned out fantastic.

 

[rjwhite41]

I guess we didn't answer your questions. Sorry about that. As stated above yes you can make an Oktoberfest with either strain. I would think that the European Ale would be better since it enhances the malt flavors. I haven't used it. I have used the Kolsch yeast and had very good, very lager-like results. Do remember that neither strain will make a spot on lager but will only be similar to lagers. The European Ale yeast looks to me like a European version of American Ale yeast. Clean and neutral. So I would assume you could make just about anything with it.

 

[DieterVonBrauhaus]

Thanks, I was worried about the fruit flavors on the German Ale, but like everyone says here, Relax it will make beer.
I will just experiment several ways. I bought too many vials of yeast that are too similar. I will brew BB Oktoberfest with the German Ale and buy NB Kit for the European Ale.

 

[slicksmix]

I have done this kit twice. I used the lager yeast included in the kit but brewed it as an ale. I absolutely love it