hybrid ale/lager

[nolabrew85]

I have been restricted to only making ales because I do not yet have a separate fridge for lagering (although I plan to get one eventually, money is tight so soon after Christmas). I was wondering if there was a way to achieve somewhat of a lager style beer by fermenting at about 65 to 70 degrees and then bottle carbonate and condition in the fridge around 45 degrees? If it is possible, I would guess you would need some sort of versatile yeast. Is there any beer style that uses this sort of method or some variation? Thanks.

 

[GodsStepBrother]

Nola Brew,

It is hard to get a true lager style brew fermenting at 65 degrees with an ale strain. I assume you are saying 65 degrees to 70 is your ambient temperature. Ambient and fermentation temperatures are two very different things. Because your beer is sitting in a room at 65 degrees does not mean your beer is fermenting at 65 degrees. Keep in mind that fermentation is an exothermic reaction and produces heat. Temperatures inside the fermenter can easily be 5 to 8 degrees higher than your ambient temperature. The hotter yeast ferment the more estor's are produced and the less crisp a beer will be.

You will never get a true lager style beer with an ale strain, even if fermented super low. You will eventually go so low in temperature that your ale yeast will strain and give you a really nasty product, or just give up and go dormant. The cleanest Ales I have made are using American strain like WLP001, WLP056 or Safale us 05, and fermenting them at 60 or 59 (again that is fermentation temperature not ambient). Even then it will not be as crisp as a lager, but still worth your time.

Hope this helped
Albert.

 

[BigB]

^^^ This ^^^ A kolsch and Alt are two traditionally recognized "hybrids." But again, IMHO, not at all like a lager. Plus, these should be feremented cooler than you propose (low 60's).

 

[nolabrew85]

Thanks. I usually ferment w ambient temp closer to 60-65 bc my fermenting area gets much cooler than the rest of the house. I never realized there was that big of a difference bw ambient temp and fermenting brew temp. I guess I will have to just get a fridge if I really want to get a lager. It would also allow me to brew during these sweltering New Orleans summers.

 

[panfishrfun]

http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp810.html

This will give you a "steam" or "california common" nice strain of yeast with lager characteristics, while fermenting at room temp

 

[gtmaus]

Before I had my fridge, I made a few batches of Cream Ale. Very light and easy drinking crowd pleaser. That might fit the bill

 

[msa8967]

I use White Labs American ale yeast when I want my cream ales or hybrid ales to have a bit more crispness to them. I usually place the fermenting bucket in a larger tub of water and add a few frozen plastic bottles of water during the first few days of activity to keep the temps close to 60 F. Biermuncher's Cream of the Crops ale works well for me with this yeast. I modified his recipe to raise the SG and IBU's though/

http://morebeer.com/view_product/6038/103731/White_Labs_-_American_Ale_Yeast_Blend