Warm Fermented Lager Thread

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I just sampled my Dunkel/Schwarzbier after a 2 day D-rest and it tastes amazing. Zero off flavors with a week at 60 degf. Of course, I used San Fran lager yeast but Ive got a couple packets of 34/70 for my next warm lager. Will be doing a ‘Carolina’ Pilsner.
 
The San Francisco Lager by White Labs is a beautiful yeast for winter room temps.

I tried a sour with it recently at even warmer temp 68 ambient, and although the lacto failed to sour sufficiently, the base flavor of the beer was very pleasant.

It seems to be playing nice with a Brett in a room temp test gallon as well.
 
I brewed on NY Day. A Jamil Oktoberfest recipe with Imperial Cablecar yeast. Pitched at 65 and it is chugging merrily at 70 right now, according to the strip. If the final ferment tastes as good as the wort, it will be delicious. Plan to let it go for 3 weeks, cold crash and add gelatin.
Thanks for the inspiration and the information. A New year, a new beer. Prost!
 
Can’t believe no one has posted here in a bit. My Oktoberfest came out awesome! Could use a little more carbonation but I couldn’t wait anymore. This is the first full glass off my keg. I think maybe a little bit of chill haze. The flavor is so good and I liked it so much I dropped a Helles Bock on the yeast cake. That is about 15 days in and tasting great. Thanks so much for the inspiration and encouragement.
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Beautiful beer. What yeast? How does it taste?
I used 34/70 and it was great! I used a higher chloride water profile (Around 80ppm chloride and 30ppm sulfate)and it seems like 34/70 is very expressive to water changes so this oktoberfest was very full and malty. I'll probably go back to a simple and lower ppm water profile for this next year's batch. I may even omit CaCl altogether and just do some sulfate.
 
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Just a quick update on my warm fermented lager w/34-70. A total of 14 days grain to glass.
It's still clearing up in the keg but I couldn't wait to sample it any longer. Crisp and clean with a touch of floral and spice from the saaz. No noticeable off flavors/diacetyl/DMS and dangerously crushable at 4.3%

-5.5 gal batch
-RO water w/ calcium 5, chloride 7, sulfate 7 and
10ml lactic acid.
-8lb pilsner, 1lb carapils
-4oz saaz
-1 pack 34-70
-68f @12psi for 10 days
-kegged with gelatin
 
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I just tapped a Pilsner and Hallertau Mittelfrueh SMaSH fermented with Saflager 34/70 at 19C (66F). Brewed this one 10 days ago--thanks to gelatin and burst carbonation it's totally ready to drink. This is a good beer--in fact this is the second time I've made it and it's becoming a house favourite.

I think 34/70 is awesome at warmer temperatures.
 
I brewed a Czech Pils last weekend with nothing but Pilsner and Saaz for the hops, fermented at 66 in my ferment fridge on 2nd generation 34/70. 4 days in the krausen dropped; last night turned off the controller to let it cool naturally, tomorrow it gets moved out to the garage to slowly crash until kegging next weekend. Still cold enough out here to do a crash since no room in the kegerator for it yet. Will get kegged with some gelatin to clear it out; I don't often use it, but this one might just be good enough for a competition coming up next month. We shall see.
 
So i accidentally forgot to set my fermentation fridge for lager temps and now my Pilsner fermented with Wyeast 2007 is fermenting at 68f. I've had experience warm fermenting lager strains in the past with 34/70 but that's been well documented to have good results. Anyone ever experiment with this strain at high temps. Its already been five days since I've pitched my yeast so it should be almost completely done with fermentation and a little to late to avoid any issues I may have.
 
I'm planning on doing my first warm fermented lager next weekend. I came across a post on reddit where the poster said they had better results pitching 34/70 around 40F and letting it warm naturally at room temperature. Anyone have experience doing this?
 
I'm planning on doing my first warm fermented lager next weekend. I came across a post on reddit where the poster said they had better results pitching 34/70 around 40F and letting it warm naturally at room temperature. Anyone have experience doing this?

I can't get my wort down that cold with my plate chiller, but I usually get down to 60 and let it warm up to 64-66. Last one done this way went grain to glass in 12 days and is (at least to me) a perfect representation of a Czech Premium; no esters, decent malt backbone, and the Saaz hops (that I may have been a bit too heavy-handed with) really pop. Just my opinion, but starting that cold and letting it ramp up naturally to traditional ale-fermenting temps is just creating a longer lag time. Really no need to, and saves on water for chilling.

*edit: for the record, above lager was fermented on 2nd generation 34/70; I always get the best results with generations 2-5. Fresh yeast takes a bit longer to get started.
 
I can't get my wort down that cold with my plate chiller, but I usually get down to 60 and let it warm up to 64-66. Last one done this way went grain to glass in 12 days and is (at least to me) a perfect representation of a Czech Premium; no esters, decent malt backbone, and the Saaz hops (that I may have been a bit too heavy-handed with) really pop. Just my opinion, but starting that cold and letting it ramp up naturally to traditional ale-fermenting temps is just creating a longer lag time. Really no need to, and saves on water for chilling.

*edit: for the record, above lager was fermented on 2nd generation 34/70; I always get the best results with generations 2-5. Fresh yeast takes a bit longer to get started.

In your opinion do you think the fresh yeast take longer to get started because there's less cells? Or because it has to rehydrate first?
 
I can't get my wort down that cold with my plate chiller, but I usually get down to 60 and let it warm up to 64-66. .

*edit: for the record, above lager was fermented on 2nd generation 34/70; I always get the best results with generations 2-5. Fresh yeast takes a bit longer to get started.

I am able to get my wort down to 55f with my well water. I just let it go up from there. Getting great results. Sipping on a pretty tasty helles bock right now.

I am using Imperial Cablecar for yeast. I made a huge starter and it started with in a couple hours. Since then I am dropping right onto the yeast cake and am on my third brew, looking to go for a fourth.
 
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In your opinion do you think the fresh yeast take longer to get started because there's less cells? Or because it has to rehydrate first?
Hard to say. I would tend to go with less cells, however. I don't use liquid yeast, ever. I do, however, use a vitality starter with fresh dry yeast, which I think helps; basically using first runnings from the tun to rehydrate the yeast, and let it sit for about an hour while I'm sparging/boiling/chilling to give it a head start. I've seen many pro vs. con arguments on it, but it works for me. And although I know it's silly from a chemistry standpoint, I think harvested yeast starts faster, and works better, because it already has; it's proven, so to speak. Only the strong survive.
 
So i accidentally forgot to set my fermentation fridge for lager temps and now my Pilsner fermented with Wyeast 2007 is fermenting at 68f. I've had experience warm fermenting lager strains in the past with 34/70 but that's been well documented to have good results. Anyone ever experiment with this strain at high temps. Its already been five days since I've pitched my yeast so it should be almost completely done with fermentation and a little to late to avoid any issues I may have.

So I let it ride for 10 days and cold crashed. I tasted a sample 7 days in and noticed what seemed to be a bit of acetaldehyde but after 3 more days I think it has been cleaned up. Just added geletin and will be kegging in a few days. Ill report back with pictures and tasting notes. Figured it be interesting to see what other strains will be able to take warm fermentation.
 
I brewed an American Lager on Saturday. Let it cool in the ferm chamber* overnight down to about 50F and pitched 2 packs of rehydrated 34/70 (while simultaneously moving the fermenter to my basement where ambient temps are 62F). 24 hours later and I have airlock activity. I will check back in with an update when I keg in 10-14 days.

* my ferm chamber is just my refrigerator turned up as warm as it will go.
 
I am fermenting an Amber lager at 58*F with W34/70 as we speak. As fermentation progresses I imagine the the wil get to 60*F-ish
 


Boys and girls, this came out amazing! Warm fermentation really did not have any affect on the end product by my taste buds. Really clean easy drinking beer with that hay pilsner malt thing that I love. I will be using this yeast again to warm ferment in the future. Next I would like to see how the flavor will change if I try the same recipe but with 34/70 instead? Anyway add Wyeast 2007 to the list of yeast strains that do well warm fermented, I'll be using it again for sure.
 
My american lager with 34/70 finished quicker than anticipated. 6 days at 62F and the gravity is down to 1.006 from 1.051. No detectable off flavors or odors. Fined with gelatin and cold crashing in the keg right now. Really looking forward to tasting this when its carbed.
 
6 days at 62F and the gravity is down to 1.006 from 1.051. No detectable off flavors or odors. Fined with gelatin and cold crashing in the keg right now. Really looking forward to tasting this when its carbed.

Remember when people said you had to take 4 weeks to make an ale and months before you could drink a lager? I love that I can turn a pretty good Pilsner around in two weeks with warm fermentation, gelatin and burst-carbonation.
 
Remember when people said you had to take 4 weeks to make an ale and months before you could drink a lager? I love that I can turn a pretty good Pilsner around in two weeks with warm fermentation, gelatin and burst-carbonation.

This one is 10 days grain to glass. Still a tad under carbed and slightly cloudy, but can't beat this process if you're in a hurry for a clean lager.
 

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Did anyone mention Saflager S23 yet? It ferments clean at higher temperatures. I have used it before with great results.

Nice! I'll have to try it next time if i'm in a pinch. I ended up using 2007 because they didn't have 34/70 and was trying to doing the quick lager method but ended up fermenting at 68 from the beginning. Came out excellent!

What temp did you use and what was your fermentation schedule?
 
Did anyone mention Saflager S23 yet? It ferments clean at higher temperatures. I have used it before with great results.

It's been mentioned a few times, but it seems to be one of those Marmite yeasts (sic), people either love it or (probably a majority) hate it. It seems to get very estery for some people - whether that's just their taste sensitivity or whether it's eg very pernickety about fermentation conditions, I don't know.
 
It's been mentioned a few times, but it seems to be one of those Marmite yeasts (sic), people either love it or (probably a majority) hate it. It seems to get very estery for some people - whether that's just their taste sensitivity or whether it's eg very pernickety about fermentation conditions, I don't know.

I have always gotten very clean flavors when using it. I once made a batch at right around 60 degrees by turning the heat down in my apartment. As I said, I have never experienced any unpleasant esters while using it. Only good results.
 
Nice! I'll have to try it next time if i'm in a pinch. I ended up using 2007 because they didn't have 34/70 and was trying to doing the quick lager method but ended up fermenting at 68 from the beginning. Came out excellent!

What temp did you use and what was your fermentation schedule?

I have used it a couple of times. Once at 60 degrees when I was able to turn the heat down in the apartment. But I also believe I did it at a bit higher temp. I pretty much use the same "fermentation schedule" for everything. Three days in primary and then it's off to secondary for who knows how long. Of course that sepends on how long primary actually takes. I have gone to secondary after only two days when it "blows through" and I also have waited up to a week. Depends on what is happening in the carboy.
 
So this weekend I have all the ingredients to do a 5.5 gal batch. I'm making an all pilsner premium with 1 oz cluster at 45, then saaz at 30 5 and WP. I only have one packet of 34/70, but I also have one of s23. Is one packet of 34/70 enough. I'll ferment at around 70, as that is the temp in the house and I don't have a temp controlled FC at this time. Does this sound okay?
 
So this weekend I have all the ingredients to do a 5.5 gal batch. I'm making an all pilsner premium with 1 oz cluster at 45, then saaz at 30 5 and WP. I only have one packet of 34/70, but I also have one of s23. Is one packet of 34/70 enough. I'll ferment at around 70, as that is the temp in the house and I don't have a temp controlled FC at this time. Does this sound okay?
Same here, house is 68-70f and get great results from 34-70. One pack will work fine, save the 23 for another batch. Post your results!
 
I Brewed up my second “warm lager” and my first with 34/70. Pitched around 65F as I was ready for bed and didn’t want to wait for 62F. Been rolling right along at 62F and it’s got a nice krausen going. I will update as the beer progresses.
 
I can't seem to figure out how to search this thread, so apologies in advance, but...

Has anyone tried fermenting WLP838/WY2308/Lallemand Diamond warm?
 
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