52 degree basement too warm for lager?

[monty67]

i'm not a big lager fan but my brother really likes them. i was thinking about doing a heineken lager but since the yeast for the recipie shows that it should be 45-52 degrees i'm wondering if i should bother since i don't really have way of keeping it cooler and my basement is at the high end of the fermentation temp at 52 and the primary will probably be a few degrees higher with the fermentation.

 

[Bobby_M]

It will be fine. Keep it on the floor in the coldest corner. The key is to chill the wort down to 45 BEFORE pitching. It may then creep up to the low 50's during ferment. If it starts at 65, you'll never get it down.

 

[WorryWort]

I dont' really think the primary will be many degrees higher than ambient for a lager. Not in my experience anyway. The fermentation is usually much less vigorous and less heat producing than most ales. Nevertheless, I think you'll be fine at 52, but I completely agree with Bobby - Get it down colder before pitching.

 

[McGarnigle]

Yeah, lager fermentation isn't really volatile.

I am doing this method currently (now in secondary), and I (a) left the wort and the starter in the cooler area overnight and pitched the next morning, and (b) placed my fermenter in a larger container of water in an effort to keep temps more stable.

 

[monty67]

good to know that it shouldn't be a big issue, i've only done one lager and, well, this is embarrasing, i didn't realize i was doing a lager until later (yes it was one of my first brews two years ago and i was apparently too excited to pay attention to what i was doing) It was a Sing Ha Tai style (think that's how you spell it) Well when the fermenter exploded the lid off in the dining room all over the window shades and the walls in the middle of the night i finally realized that i was brewing a lager and the yeast shouldn't be brewing at around 80 degrees.

The beer was ok, it was mainly just flat in the flavor department, didn't have a lot of good flavor, just tasted like non exciting higher alcohol beer without hardly any nose and a little skunk. Something i don't want to repeat

Thanks for the replys