Lager question

[Bolti]

I decided on making a lager "Canadian Draught" extract kit allthough I don't have a good enough cooling system for my beer.

The temperature is just under 19°C (66°F) so I am wondering if I continue to ferment this lager like this in primary, will it just end up tasting like dirty butter or is there any way I can salvage it.

I am thinking of buying a small fridge to put the bottles in for lagering but I am sure I will brew many many more ales rather then lagers in the coming years.

Any ideas how to salvage this batch?

 

[BigEd]

Are you sure it is actually a lager? Did you use the yeast from the kit? Most of the UK extract kits which it sounds like you have come with ale yeast even if the name on the label says "lager". If you do not have the proper temperature control I would suggest using a clean ale yeast, using your available 19C for fermentation and then giving the beer some secondary fermentation time at as cool & stable a temp as you can manage. You may also want to search here and on other forums for "swamp coolers", homemade contraptions using iced water or evaporative covers to keep fermenting temps down.

 

[Bolti]

The yeast in the kit was a coopers dry yeast.

I will have to lower the temp somehow and hopefully fix the batch

 

[Yooper]

If it's a Coopers dry ale yeast, you want to keep it in the 66F range, or else it will quit fermenting. Ale yeast strains need temperatures from about 64-70 degrees F, lager yeast strains ferment at about 48-53 degrees F. It's all about the yeast- if you have an ale yeast, ferment it at reasonable yeast temperatures.

 

[Bolti]

Ah, awesome

Then I will just stop worrying then

 

[Bolti]

One more question though.

A Lager Kit with an Ale Yeast, any ideas how the heck this is going to taste?

 

[Ballistic]

Like cider shandy.

 

[Bolti]

Like a blend between rootbeer and magners?

wow... that will be a special tingle allright...