Anyone know of a yeast that will ferment at a colder temp?

[gauzzastrip]

I have a beer fridge with a temperature controller that I usually use for a fermentation chamber. I can't let the fridge get to 60-70 degrees because I have some nice steaks in the freezer. I also don't have enough time to lager because I want to be able to bring it to the beach with me in a month.

So, anyone have any suggestions for a cold fermenting ale yeast or a quicker / cleaner fermenting lager yeast?


Cheers!

[JoeBeer100]

60-70° F sounds like a pretty reasonable range for ales. Even if you did a lager in the low 50's, you could do it in 1 month. There is a technique for doing it in 2 weeks...just look for Tasty's method or listen to a few episodes ago on the Session.

Anyway, if you want to stick to ales, you can do a really clean ale in the lower 60's with some American ale yeast (WLP001, 1056, US-05). I think the best thing would be to keep the temperature in a tight range, such as a 1-2° swing.

Or just cook the steaks, get a temperature controller, and forget about it. What's important here?

[Stinkfist]

Nottingham dry yeast will easily ferment in the upper 50's....but you need to pitch more than normal..

[brewinhard]

Us-o5, both alt and kolsch yeasts will ferment clean and cool at 60F.

[Ramitt]

Another option is to provide heat to the fermenter in the fridge. My keezer doubles as a fermenter. I keep the Keezer around 40 and use a fermwrap around the bucket attached to a temp controller. I made an insulated jacket from reflectix that wraps around it and a lid that covers the top, seems to work well and not overstress the freezer so far.

[Protesto]

Or you can try WLP810, I've gotten really nice clean beers using it at around 62F. It's got a nice restrained character for the most part, I really liked the blonde I did with it.

[whoateallthepies]

Wyeast 1007 German Ale. Great yeast.

Do a Berliner Weisse for a 3% Summer quaffer. And a 5% Kolsch.

[jaimethelimey]

The French Saison strain is a monster. I once forgot to set the proper temp on my fridge and it still chugged away in the 50's.