I’m helping someone learn homebrewing and they’ve selected a pilsner recipe they want to do but he can’t lager. So, I thought maybe an ale yeast at 63-65 degrees would work. Maybe the WLP810 or the Wyeast 2112. Not quite a steam beer but something still close to the style of pilsner.
I could just throw some 05 in but I’d rather not.
What say ye?
What about wyeast 2565, wyeast 1007 or even wyeast 1056? All can leave a rather neutral flavor and after some cold conditioning would be very “lager” like.
Thanks for the suggestions. 1056 is just US-05 so I’ve already thought that would work though but I like the other ideas too.
If it were me I would use the wyeast 2565. I obviously have used it on a kolsch style, but have used it on lighter hybrid styles with great success.
Not exactly. I find 1056 a lot cleaner than 05. Using 2565 will give you that “winey” kolsch taste and I don’t think 2112 is anywhere clean enough for a pseudo lager. I’ve had good luck with 1056 and even better success using WY1007. You still need to ferment it almost as cold as you would a lager yeast and lager the beer when it’s done.
I’d rock the German Ale (WY 1007) with a swamp cooler and frozen water bottles for at least the first 3-5 days to try and keep the temp down as low as you can get it.
Last time I did a lager I used Wyeast’s “Pilsner” (don’t know the #). I fermented at about 16-18 C and it came out very clean with no real off flavours. And from what I’ve read, there are a couple other lager strains that really don’t work that badly at close to room temp. It was definately cleaner than saf-23 (dry yeast) which I had tended to use a lot before.
2124? I’ve heard from people that it does work well at room temps. Personally, though, I think I’d still go with 1007.
[quote=“Denny”]
2124? I’ve heard from people that it does work well at room temps. Personally, though, I think I’d still go with 1007.[/quote]
Just looked it up. It was actually the 2007.
I can probably get my temps down closer to 60 with the Cool Brewing bag I use. It keeps things mid 60’s with very little trouble so I can double the ice packs and get it between 58-60.
Just don’t have the capability to lager it cooler than that.
Thanks for all the great ideas and suggestions.
I’m brewing this up this weekend and made my starter this morning. I did follow the advice of Denny and others and am trying the 1007. It’s going to get a bit cooler this week though not cool enough to lager so this will work out fine.
Thanks again for the information.
