Lager Yeast at Room Temperature

[dotes]

Hi Folks, 2 weeks ago I brewed a lager and pitched with S-23 yeast. The problem was that it became abnormally cold that week and I had to ferment inside my house at 18-19 C instead of in my shed as planned. This is not ideal as it will likely create some fruity esters as I have heard. My question is, should I bottle the beer now? It is too cold outside for me to lager my beer at a cooler temperature and I do not have any temperature control equipment. So basically it is either bottle now or let it ferment at 18-19 C for a few more weeks. Any ideas? With an ale I would defintely go 1-2 weeks but I have no experience with lager yeast. Thanks!

 

[roastquake]

How cold is it out in the shed?

 

[kombat]

At this point, the damage is done. Lagering it won't save it. Check your gravity (it's almost certainly finished) and taste a sample to see if it's palatable before wasting your time bottling a batch of potentially undrinkable brew.

 

[dotes]

It is right around 0 C. I am afraid that it will freeze if I put it ou there. I will check it out today. I really hope that the beer is drinkable!

 

[roastquake]

Chances are, it will be drinkable at the very least. I've fermented hybrids with S-23 at higher temps than that, and they ended up great. Expect some esters though.

A word of caution: when I do that, I get one gallon of settled yeast/trub. So I would transfer to the bottling vessel before measuring the priming sugar

 

[progmac]

if there is a lager yeast to ferment at 18-19C, it's s-23. it might turn out just fine. i would let it sit until it clears up.

 

[JimRausch]

With my 2 lagers last year, after fermentation was done, I transferred to carboys, sat them in swamp cooler buckets with water, and moved them out to my 'cold'garage. It did get below freezing out there at times, and a couple mornings there was up to an inch(2 cm or so) of ice in the buckets. But the beer in the carboys never froze, probably because of the alcohol. So, I'm thinking if you do the same, lagering at close to 0*C will be OK.

 

[dotes]

A word of caution: when I do that, I get one gallon of settled yeast/trub. So I would transfer to the bottling vessel before measuring the priming sugar

Damn, well thanks for the heads up!