Lager Yeast With A Porter Fresh Wort.

[MCT]

Hey all, yes another stupid question.

Was just at BMBS, and picked up a St Peters Porter fresh wort kit. Normally they come with a safale S-04 yeast, but Pat gave me a Saflager s23 as he thinks it may be getting a little cool for S-04 atm. And as I have been having a few problems with my Ales stalling in the last couple of weeks, I thought I'd give it a go.
Temps in my garage are between 15-19 morning and night, so it's that middle ground temperature that makes it tricky.

So, when brewing Ale style beers with a lager yeast, is it still neccessary to give the beer a couple weeks 'lagering' after fermentation is finished? I have never done a lager before so it's all a bit new to me, or can I just keg it as per normal with an ale yeast?

Thanks for any help...
Mick.

 

[MCT]

Anyone?

 

[kabooby]

It is not neccesary but the beer would definately benifit from lagering. It will help all the flavours settle and let the yeast clean up itself. This may not be as evident as a lighter lager but it wil still benifit.

If using the S23 try and get the temp down to about 12C. I used to use a big tub filled with water and would throw in frozen bottles.

And make a starter

Kabooby

 

[MCT]

OK thanks Kabooby. I've gotta catch up with you M.A.L.E. guys soon, so much to learn....

 

[bconnery]

Not that a lager yeast won't work but another option would be to go either Nottingham or S05 (US56).
Both of these happily ferment lower than S04 but won't require lagering.
These could easily ferment in the 15-19C range mentioned...

 

[bakkerman]

James Squire used to ferment their porter with a lager yeast, made it an easily drinkable drop, made it more of a dark pilsner.

They've changed back to ale yeast recently to get it more back in style...

 

[wyatt_girth]

I picked up some kits and bits to throw down this weekend (Coopers Sparkling with a morgan's master blend 'lager malt' and some cascade) and was gonna use US-05 yeast. No idea how this combination will go but am keen to give it a run (comments/advice welcome). However, it seems the temp is about to take a sudden nosedive so am considering using a S-189 instead. Anyone know if this will still be ok or should I just try my luck with the US-05?
I usually ferment in a barfridge with a fridgemate but am not sure if the fermenting will create enough heat to maintain 18 degrees when it will be as low as 6 degrees outside the fridge. I have a brewbelt and was gonna maybe give it a run on the fridgemate but can't decide which way to go.
Sorry to hijack this thread but I searched already and this one was the closest to my predicament.

 

[0M39A]

Ive been using a belt + fridgemate in a fridge to insulate it for the past month or so to brew my ales.

works very well, belt doesnt really need to power on that often, as the natural heat from fermentation keeps everything toasty once it gets going.

ftr ive been fermenting in the shed, where the temps get down to 0 overnight. i got home at 5:00ish today and it was 9C in the shed apparently.

 

[pablo_h]

He's right about SO-4. I've had all sorts of problems with it at soon as the temp drops below 16*C. Nottingham yeast works fine, recultured coopers yeast from stubbies works fine, even crappy coopers kit yeast does in my brew room that stays around 14-17*C though. SO-4 has died down everytime, I thought it was just me I'd use nottingham or s0-5 if the temp doesn't drop below 14*c, below that even they might go dormant. Use them with some type of heater or otherwise try s-23 if the temp stays below 14*C