Stella Artois clone with ale yeast

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wildriver

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I'm just about ready to brew my fifth batch of beer and need a little advice from some experienced brewers. My last batch was a cream ale partial mash that I really enjoyed. Next I would like to try something roughly along the lines of a Stella Artois clone, however I don't have the refrigerator space to lager properly. I could use a lager yeast and put it in a storage shed outside for the primary (average temp for the next week or two would be low 50's Fahrenheit), or I could just pitch an American ale yeast (I have a Wyeast American 1056 culture ready to go) and see what happens.

Here's the recipe I was thinking about:


1/2 # Belgian Pils
1/2 # Vienna
1/2 # Cara Pils

Extract:

6 1/2 # Extra Pale

Hops:
bittering = 2oz Czech Saaz
flavoring = 1oz Czech Saaz
aroma = 1oz Czech Saaz

Here are my questions: do you think I'd get decent results with this recipe using an American ale yeast? How different might this be in character than if I were to do proper lagering? What kind of results would I get if I did the primary fermentation with a lager yeast at a temperature in the low 50's?
Perhaps I should drop this idea and just find a tried-and-true cream ale recipe, but I'd love to be able to pull something off that at least resembled Stella to some degree.

Thanks in advance for your advice!
 
Do the lager man. I'm not a fan of the whole faux lager thing. Even fermenting w/ lager yeast at ale temps makes a better fake lager than using ale yeast IMO.

WLP 830--3qt+3qt (stepped 6qt) starter or 2pks of w-34/70 will make that into a really nice beer.
 
wildriver said:
Perhaps I should drop this idea and just find a tried-and-true cream ale recipe, but I'd love to be able to pull something off that at least resembled Stella to some degree.
Click to expand...

No and yes. If you are after a cream ale then drop this idea. If you want to see what will happen, press ahead. It never hurts to see what you can come up with. This will not resemble Stella at all, so don't go into it thinking you are making a Stella clone, because it ain't. And the lagering outside - the temp will not stay constant so it is a crapshoot. It might dip low and freeze, it might get hotter than forecast. Unless you have a method of keeping your beer at the correct lagering temps, forget it until you have a way to actually keep the temps constant. But if you have a way to maintain the temps while out in the elements then try it out.
 
How much of that "perfumy" character Stella has comes from the hops, and how much comes from the yeast? I was trying to figure that out Sunday.
 
i say go for it. I just did an oktoberfest marzen and a helles in my garage early this spring. The temp of the garage stayed relatively constant despite pretty good fluctuations in the outside weather. I can say with confidence that they both turned out great. I used lager yeast for the helles and nottingham for the marzen. The helles was delicious before it was even fully carbed, the marzen took another two weeks before it lost its green taste.
Go with the lager yeast, and see what happens. I'm betting it will turn out really well. you can look up ghetto lagering, revvy has mentioned it in several threads and he seems to have consistantly good results.
 
No one is saying it won't be good. Hell, I've drunk an RIS that had a bug in the bottle. I just scooped it out, and not a little one. It just won't be the beer you are thinking it will be.
 
wildriver said:
I'm just about ready to brew my fifth batch of beer and need a little advice from some experienced brewers. My last batch was a cream ale partial mash that I really enjoyed. Next I would like to try something roughly along the lines of a Stella Artois clone, however I don't have the refrigerator space to lager properly. I could use a lager yeast and put it in a storage shed outside for the primary (average temp for the next week or two would be low 50's Fahrenheit), or I could just pitch an American ale yeast (I have a Wyeast American 1056 culture ready to go) and see what happens.

Here's the recipe I was thinking about:


1/2 # Belgian Pils
1/2 # Vienna
1/2 # Cara Pils

Extract:

6 1/2 # Extra Pale

Hops:
bittering = 2oz Czech Saaz
flavoring = 1oz Czech Saaz
aroma = 1oz Czech Saaz

Here are my questions: do you think I'd get decent results with this recipe using an American ale yeast? How different might this be in character than if I were to do proper lagering? What kind of results would I get if I did the primary fermentation with a lager yeast at a temperature in the low 50's?
Perhaps I should drop this idea and just find a tried-and-true cream ale recipe, but I'd love to be able to pull something off that at least resembled Stella to some degree.

Thanks in advance for your advice!
Click to expand...

You might have some good luck with WLP 029 (Kolsch yeast). It can produce some nice pseudo lagers.
 
I have used US-05, Nottingham, Pacman and WLP029 to produce cream ales, and other lager style ales. I have found that of these yeast strains, the nottingham fermented cool and long will give you the most lager like "clean" results.

Pacman can sometimes leave a herbal/earthy flavor in lighter ales that I find to be not pleasing, in stronger/hoppier ales you wouldn't notice it.

US-O5, in my experience will not handle sub 60 degree temps as well as notty or pacman.
 
I have the same temperature control problem.
I have used Saflager yeast twice at room temp (cool)
and it worked fine.
One sugggestion: I would recommend going to all-grain.
If you do you will never go back to using extracts.
 
I say go for it, only way to find out if this is an effective method for you to use this time of year is to do it, whats the worst thats gonna happen the beer is not as good as you had hoped I can almost guarantee you it will be drinkable and I would be willing to bet its damn good, and if it works you know that this time of year is the right time to do some primary fermentations for lager, than all you need is a fridge you can throw that bad boy in after primary and let it sit for six to eight weeks or so! Go for it! Good luck man!
 
coaxfun said:
Was just wondering, how did this go?? I'm looking for a nice stella ale clone myself.
Click to expand...

welcome to the forum! i don't know that you'll get an update on this one. the original poster only has one post and that was from last year. :(
 
It's belgium pilsner, corn and a little rice. I haven't made one yet, but I'm going to try 7 lbs of pils, 2 lbs flaked corn and 1 lb of flaked rice and use a danish lager yeast. I'll let you know how it turns out. Their yeast is most likely key and they keep it under raps.
 
wardenwheat said:
It's belgium pilsner, corn and a little rice. I haven't made one yet, but I'm going to try 7 lbs of pils, 2 lbs flaked corn and 1 lb of flaked rice and use a danish lager yeast. I'll let you know how it turns out. Their yeast is most likely key and they keep it under raps.
Click to expand...


I am interested. Stella is a good brew and I'd like to make one very similar soon.
 
I'd also like to mention, though I am new... If anyone says that Heineken brews are similar to Stella... They either haven't had a Stella, or their taste buds are too poor for me to take them seriously...
 
coaxfun said:
If anyone says that Heineken brews are similar to Stella... They either haven't had a Stella, or their taste buds are too poor for me to take them seriously...
Click to expand...

They are both BJCP Commercial Examples of 1C, Premium American Lager. Are you calling Gordon Strong's taste buds poor?
 

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