My basement runs 58° in the winter. It’s kinda perfect for Cali Common and other recipes that call for WY2112.
What else ferments well at that temp? I’ve made all kinds, but want to brew to season and location! 
Cold enough for lagers? I want to make a Maibock…
[quote=“masquelle”]My basement runs 58° in the winter. It’s kinda perfect for Cali Common and other recipes that call for WY2112.
What else ferments well at that temp? I’ve made all kinds, but want to brew to season and location!
Cold enough for lagers? I want to make a Maibock…[/quote]
A lager yeast would still ferment at that temp, although it would not perform at it’s best. The final product might well be underattenuated, and it probably wouldn’t have quite the cleanliness you’re after from a lager. But it might be worth a shot. If you do go that route, I’d suggest using a yeast that’s highly attenuative, so that if it doesn’t finish fermenting all the way to it’s attenuation limit, you’ll still have a chance of at least not coming out with an overly sweet beer. Wyeast’s Scottish Ale yeast strain is known for being able to ferment at a fairly low temp, but I don’t know exactly how low. There has always been a bit of a controversy in the homebrewing world about that particular yeast regarding the temp it can work at. I know there has to be some way to keep you brewing at that temp. Just do some research, preferably directly from the websites of the yeast suppliers, as they’re generally the most informative.
The winter is my time to ferment lagers. 58* is a little high for the 1st couple days, but perhaps set the bucket by a doorway and open/close the door depending on the temps.
I did use the WYScottish ale yeast 4 times earlier in the Fall, and it did great with temps in the low to mid 60s.I used it in a Nut Brown, a Honey Porter, a Wee Heavy Scottish, and a Graf. Great yeast, IMO.
The WYGerman ale yeast is another cold weather possibility. Altbiers are very similar to lagers and generally fermented high 50s to low 60s.
Perfect temps for a Kolsch as well. I bet you could drop those temps to 52*-53* simply with a swamp cooler if you want to brew a lager.
I ferment most of my ales at 57-60º for 3 or 4 days then raise the temperature slowly.
[quote=“deliusism1”]A lager yeast would still ferment at that temp, although it would not perform at it’s best. The final product might well be underattenuated[/quote]That’s a new one to me, Ive never had any problems with lager strains not finishing when fermented at warmer temperatures. They’re not as clean tasting but never under attenuated.
US-05 works great at that temp as the carboy/beer will be 5-8 degrees above that for the first 4-8 days and should make a nice IPA.
^ this strain can be used for most ale styles IME - including IPA’s. It’s also an awesome yeast.
58 is good for most ale strains. let them do a bulk of their fermentation in the basement, then move upstairs for conditioning
[quote=“S.Scoggin”]http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_yeaststrain_detail.cfm?ID=150
^ this strain can be used for most ale styles IME - including IPA’s. It’s also an awesome yeast.
58 is good for most ale strains. let them do a bulk of their fermentation in the basement, then move upstairs for conditioning[/quote]
Oh yeah 1007 is awesome, you can also ferment it at lager temperatures with no problems.
A couple years ago I split a 10 gallons batch of quasi Vienna Lager, half with 1007 German ale yeast, the other half with 2035 American lager yeast. I fermented them both at 48º and lagered them the same amount of time. The 1007 finished 2 points higher, 1.01 vs. 1.008, both were really good beers, the 2035 was smoother though some liked the tongue of the 1007 more.
If I only had one choice of yeast to brew with it would be 1007.
You can try to use the Bohemian 2124 from wyeast. That one has some flexibility in terms of fermenting temperatures.
Also, lagers won’t under attenuate if fermented higher than normal. Yeast metabolism speeds up when temperatures increase, meaning you might see some over attenuation if anything.
My basement also runs around 58-62 but I found that if I set the carboy on the bare cement floor with a upside down cardboard box over the top of the carboy instead of on a table or rug, the temp in the carboy will be 5-10 degrees cooler. this may give some yeast the temps they like. just a thought.
+1 to the altbier yeast at this temp. Although a brew belt would bring you up a few degrees.
I also found this: http://www.lugwrenchbrewing.com/2010/10 … anges.html
A graphic of WY strains and their temp ranges. Thought y’all might find it useful.
Thanks for the advice! I’m leaning toward über alt with 1007!
There are several ale yeasts that work down into the 50s, just make sure to pitch enough.
[quote=“masquelle”]My basement runs 58° in the winter. It’s kinda perfect for Cali Common and other recipes that call for WY2112.
What else ferments well at that temp? I’ve made all kinds, but want to brew to season and location!
Cold enough for lagers? I want to make a Maibock…[/quote]
Almost any ale yeast. WY1056, 1007, 1728. For lagers, I prefer to go a bit cooler. More like 45-50. You could make a pseudo Maibock with 1007. I’ve done that a number of times and it works great.
[quote=“masquelle”]I also found this: http://www.lugwrenchbrewing.com/2010/10 … anges.html
A graphic of WY strains and their temp ranges. Thought y’all might find it useful.
Thanks for the advice! I’m leaning toward über alt with 1007![/quote]
Nice find! Useful to have all that info on one chart.
[quote=“Glug Master”]I ferment most of my ales at 57-60º for 3 or 4 days then raise the temperature slowly.
I won’t argue with you on that point if you’ve got experience fermenting with lager yeasts at higher temps. I’m simply repeating what I’ve heard from other people who have had that problem, because it seems to be fairly common. Then again, I know of a (now defunct) microbrewery that used lager yeasts at higher temps, and never even lagered the beers they made, and still called them “lagers”. They were pretty decent beers, but I could definitely tell that they weren’t true lagers.
I think either you were misinformed or misunderstood. A higher temp will not inhibit a lager fermentation.
Scottish Ale is supposed to work well in that temp range. That’s next up on my brewing schedule, so I can’t tell you from experience yet.
+1 to Kolsch and US-05.
I think either you were misinformed or misunderstood. A higher temp will not inhibit a lager fermentation.[/quote]
No, I definitely knew for sure how those folks were brewing their beer, because I knew the brewers. But that’s not the point. I know that many lager yeasts (maybe even all of them, for all I know) will still ferment at higher temps. But for a beer to be a true lager, it has to be cold-conditioned after primary fermentation is complete, which of course you know. This brewery was not doing that. They were using lager yeast, but they were not using refrigeration in any point in the process, and they were still calling their beers lagers, which- I’m sure you would agree- was a definite case of false advertising.
Sorry…I was talking about the contention that a lager yeast won’t ferment well at higher temps.
