Bottling Ale, with Lager yeast?

[TechMiller]

Ok... this is probably a strange idea, and possibly a dumb one... lol

I am thinking to save space in my ferm chamber...

Has anyone herd of, or tried bottling an ale, with a small amount of lager yeast and carbing in a normal refrigerator? I am in a small apartment in Florida and room temps are way to warm to get a clean fermentation without temp control.

Also for main fermentation I am sitting at about 68f with a US-05 or similar

Would this...

A. Work?
B. Taste fine?
C. Cause any problems?

Thanks!

 

[yorkbrew]

I've never heard of a homebrewer doing this but I have heard that some Belgain breweries use lager yeasts to bottle condition their ales.

 

[el_caro]

Has anyone herd of, or tried bottling an ale, with a small amount of lager yeast and carbing in a normal refrigerator?

Would this...

A. Work?
B. Taste fine?
C. Cause any problems?

Thanks!

a: It could work but fridge temps are lower than recommended lager yeast fermentation temperature and it may take ages at that temperature to get acceptable level of carbonation if at all. Not to worry as it will carb up once the bottles come out of the fridge.

b: Lager yeast is not going to have any impact on taste.

c: Could be a problem if temperature of bottles too low for lager yeast to get active and you leave them in the fridge forever waiting for them to carb..

I would not worry much about just carbing with the existing US05 ale yeast even at the higher ambient temperature. It is most unlikely to impact on flavor with such a small amount of fermentables in the priming.

Your main fermentation temp of 68°F is good.

 

[BigFloyd]

I'd want to keep the bottles under 85*F , but I wouldn't worry about bottle conditioning at the higher temp. It should have no significant impact on the flavor. Forget about trying to carb/condition cold with lager yeast. Ain't gonna work.

The time to really focus on temps is when you pitch (I like low 60's for ales) and then keeping the ferment cool during the first 5-7 days while the yeast goes through the lag phase and then the exponential growth phase. That's when most off-flavors are produced (caused by yeast stress).

You're OK at 68*F with US-05 if that is beer temp not air. You'll want to try to keep it from going any higher though.

 

[TechMiller]

Thank you all for your input! I think I will try just room temp carbing a 6 pack maybe and see how it goes! I am sure it will carb much faster at 75-80f than 68f!