Beer Forum

Trying to get excited about brewing a cream ale. Only brewing it because it's my club's style of the month. If I wanted to drink corny 15 IBU beer, well... So I decided to try the WLP080 to make it interesting. Never used a ale/lager blend before and it will most likely be the lightest beer I will ever make, so I am asking for fermentation advice. Grain bill is basically the same as BCS. Using a blend of liberty/mt hood hops. White labs says 65-75F. I would tend to use the lower range, but what will the lager yeast be doing at 66F? After primary is done, what should the conditioning be like? Should I drop to 55F for a while or just let it rip, diacetyl rest, and cold condition in the fridge? Not looking for "beginner" advice. You can assume proper starter, pitching rate, etc. Thanks!

If the beer turns out the way that recipe has is the past (for me) the corn will be subtle if at all noticeable. I have not use that yeast blend before, but I would start at the low end (65) of the recommended temperature range and let the beer gradually rise to the mid 70s to take care of any off aromas/flavors from the lager strain. You might be able to go lower at first, but I suspect the lager strain would dominate the fermentation if you start too low. I would lager for 1 month before serving or bottling. After a month it is bright, malty sweet and just the right beer after working in the yard on a hot Saturday afternoon.

MikeB wrote: I would lager for 1 month before serving or bottling. After a month it is bright, malty sweet and just the right beer after working in the yard on a hot Saturday afternoon.

What do you think about lager temp? 55? 60? Or will cold keg conditioning suffice? I don't want too much sulfur.

Could I fake a Maibock with this yeast? Give me some input. I'm bound to do it anyway. It is for a members-only club competition. We only have 1 BJCP judge, a few guys with decent palates, and "the JP 90%"
We get points for top 5 beers which go toward "brewer of the year".
I can't ferment at 50, and I have decided I am too lazy to set up an ice bath.
I started my cream ale at 60, then let it go up to about 62 and eventually to 66. I would most likely do the same type of profile, except maybe keep it at 60 for longer.
Anyway, I figure it is so focused on the malt, I could get the flavor close enough to place.

You'll want to lager at or near 32 oF. Anything near 50 oF is more like cold conditioning.

As far as trying to make a Maibock with this yeast. It might turn out OK. I suspect the lager strain in this blend to produce a beer that is more light lagerish than bock. I would try something else like a Cal Common or Altbier if I were playing around.

There was a brewing tv episode a while back about lager workarounds and they looked specifically a maibock. In addition to the yeasts that they tried, you could think about SF Lager yeast.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/connect/2 ... xperiment/

Thanks. I will check that out. It's just that I have this giant clean cake of cream ale yeast, and I will probably use it and see what happens. But then again, I may do a proper job because my stupid brain won't let me intentionally do something if I can't predict some end results.

Why not try a split batch?