Brewing a lager "clone" with ale yeast

[ftlstrings]

I'm wondering: have you ever, or are you aware of a well documented episode where an ale yeast was over pitched into a lager recipe and cool fermented to effect a more lager like fermentation?


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[m1k3]

I've used Nottingham dry yeast to fake a lager. It works at pretty cool temps. 54F

http://www.danstaryeast.com/products/nottingham-ale-beer-yeast

 

[beeber]

Why not just use California Common yeast and ferment with lager yeast at ale temperatures?

 

[mrphillips]

I believe what you're describing is an "altbier," translated to "old-ale." I've heard of it used with grain bills similar to oktoberfests, but I'm not sure if it's the same thing with a lighter lager.

I don't have the ability to lager, so I've been playing with this same idea to introduce the Fall season.

 

[JonM]

I've been doing that all summer with 1007 German ale yeast, and it's close enough for me. It's a wonderfully clean and attenuative yeast that produces lager-like result. I'm about to do that with a Munich Helles recipe.

EDIT: As for the pitching rate, I use the "hybrid" tab on the Mr. Malty calculator.

 

[KeninMN]

I've been doing that all summer with 1007 German ale yeast, and it's close enough for me. It's a wonderfully clean and attenuative yeast that produces lager-like result. I'm about to do that with a Munich Helles recipe.

EDIT: As for the pitching rate, I use the "hybrid" tab on the Mr. Malty calculator.

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[hunter_le five]

I've been doing that all summer with 1007 German ale yeast, and it's close enough for me. It's a wonderfully clean and attenuative yeast that produces lager-like result. I'm about to do that with a Munich Helles recipe.

EDIT: As for the pitching rate, I use the "hybrid" tab on the Mr. Malty calculator.

+1 One of my favorite yeasts, very good for pseudo-lagers

 

[RmikeVT]

I would suggest Cali Common Yeast on darker maltier styles and Kolsch Yeast for lighter hoppier styles. Keep them in low 60's. Cali Common is in fact a true lager strain and has produced fantastic Schwarzbier, or so I've heard.

The BrewingTV guys (nowdefunct) at northernbrewer had an episode talking about something similar and reported that the Wyeast Bavarian Lager strain did well at ale temps (low 60s).

I've done an Alt with White Labs Alt yeast (WLP036) fermented for a month in low/mid 60's and then lagered for two months in kegerator and it turned out very clean. It did take 2 months of lagering to clean up though.

 

[m1k3]

Brewing TV - Episode 53 Lager Workarounds
[ame]http://vimeo.com/34985835[/ame]

 

[steelbier]

Figured this would be a good place for advice since the thread was recently active. I made an Ale-Toberfest with Nottingham and was wondering about my attenuation. 75% Vienna 20% dark Munich and 5% Melanoidan malt.

I mashed at 154 but it got down to 152 and up to 156 before quick fixes during a 75 minute BIAB mash. OG 1.062 and after 3 weeks I'm ready to cold crash. I'm at 1.015 for an apparent attenuation of 75% unless I'm off with my numbers, I'm no expert.

Does 75% seem too low for Notty mashed at 154? I pitched 2 rehydrated packs at 58 and oxygenated with pure O2 for about a minute. I set my chamber for 60 and ramped up to 67 when things slowed down. I want a big body since it's not a true lager, just wanted it to be as clean as possible. No taste tests yet. Any thoughts??




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[mrphillips]

Even with your higher mash temp., I'd think that Nottingham would be able to get it down to 1.012...maybe even 1.010. I've never used an all vienna/munich grainbill, so I might not be the best authority on the issue.

 

[steelbier]

Yeah I read that it ferments down to 1.008 so I'm letting it go another week before I cold crash, I feel like it won't go lower than 1.012 but we'll see!


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[brewbama]

I am also in the "To make a lager use lager yeast" camp. +1 California Common.


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