Fermenting W-34/70 lager yeast at 63F? (higher than normal). Or stick with US-05?

[kal]

I'm currently mashing a beer that's intended to a light summer drinker (100% organic pils / Hallertau hops, around 5% ABV, 3 SRM).

I want it to be a clean tasting beer, not much yeast derived flavours, minimal esters.

Normally I'd chill the wort to about 50F and then ferment at 50-53F with whole bunch of W-34/70 lager yeast. Results are always good and clean. Love it.

Problem is my basement is currently in pieces undergoing a reno and I don't have the luxury of my temp control chambers right now. I have a cold room which is at a steady 63F so I was going to use US-05 ale yeast and call this beer a "Blonde Ale". Recommended range for US-05 is 59-75F. I'm hoping that 63F will help keep it clean tasting. It's neutral yeast I know well.

But then I got thinking ... why not use W-34/70 at 63F? Recommended range for W-34/70 is 48-59F. 63F is only slightly higher, but it is higher (not something I usually want to do) ...

So the question is: Which will produce a cleaner tasting beer at 63F? US-05 or W-34/70?

My gut says go with US-05 but I was curious if anyone had any thoughts ...

Thanks!

Kal

 

[ericwatkins_utk]

I'd say its probably ok to ferment a little high with the lager yeast, but the thing that scares me is mixing the higher temps with 100% pils. You may end up with a rapid fermentation and strong DMS with the pils and the higher temperature. If you go with it, I'd extend the boil time a little longer to drive off DMS.

Personally, I'd try the US-05 at the low end of the range.

 

[kal]

Thanks!

I'm already planning a 90 min boil. It's what I always do with pils malt. (In this case organic Weyermann pils).

Personally, I'd try the US-05 at the low end of the range.

Yep. Thinking about it some more I'm pretty much going to go with that. Pushing W-34/70 temp too high doesn't make any sense to me the more I think about it.

The cold room's at 61-62F at the moment so I'll pitch a heathly amount of US-05 (about 22-24g per 5-6 gallons) into the ~60F wort and call it a day.

Kal

 

[kal]

To close the loop:

I brewed this as planned on May 31, 2012 and then pitched 48g of US-05 in 12 gallons of wort, and fermented at 59-60F ambient. Wort temp was slightly higher at about 62F.

Fermentation was fairly vigorous even though I'm fermenting at the bottom end of the recommend temp range for this yeast (59-75F). In fact, it fermented more or less as vigorously as when I normally use the yeast at 68F. It wasn't a slow lager-like fermentation at all.

First tastes show something pretty clean. Not exactly lager-like but not that far off either. It'll get better once I keg it and keep it near freezing for a month or so.

Kal

 

[Veedo]

Let us know how it turns out! Almost wish you would have used the 34-70, just to hear how it worked .

 

[kal]

Will do!

If I had my usual fermentation chamber available to do 34-70 I wouldn't be using US-05 in the first place.

Kal

 

[deadscott]

I have wondered if 34/70 would do well at warmer temps. Maybe something akin to steam. Has any fermented with it at warmer temps?

 

[Veedo]

We brewed a beer with 34-70 this winter, fermented at 50*, came out great. Will be giving that yeast another shot. When i used 1056 at 60* however, i got diacetyl, two different batches, with month long primaries. Not sure what happened to me there as i see others using us05, 1056, and wlp001 at fairly cold temps woth good results.

 

[TimTrone]

I have wondered if 34/70 would do well at warmer temps. Maybe something akin to steam. Has any fermented with it at warmer temps?

It gets somewhat fruity. You get some apple and honey flavors at 65 or so

 

[jbsg02]

Why not try the california common yeast at that temp?

 

[ericwatkins_utk]

Awesome, Kal. I've got pacman fermenting at 60 right now and it has done awesome. John Maier from Rogue almost always ferments at the bottom of the range. I've had good luck as well. A few weeks at cold temps will definitely do it some good. Keep us posted !

 

[kal]

Fermenting at the bottom of any given range is typically always what I do (and is often recommended).

This beer's pretty much done now as it's 9 days in. I'm going to leave it for a full 2 weeks to make sure it's fully attenuated and then rack to my secondaries that I basically just use as brite tanks, then kegged ~3 days later. I'll let you know!

Kal