Lager without temperature control

[UKTony]

Best laid plans but I still don't have a temperature controlled fermentation environment but do have some lager malt getting past it's best.

How wrong will it be if I brew this weekend and place the fermentation bucket somewhere which stays relatively stable over the day/night? Over the next 6 weeks or so the temperature should be dropping which would seem to match what I've read for lager fermentation.

Otherwise does anybody near RH17 want some lager malt + flaked rice + 100g saza (sp?) hops to brew?

[Morten]

If you can get a stable temperature it should be no problem. But if it gets to cold you yeast will settle out and become inactive.

And you do want to incorporate a diacetyl rest (rise in temperatur) at the end of your fermentation.

Otherwise I suggest you throw in an ale yeast.

[coatesg]

If you store the malt in a cool dry place, it keeps for some time.

[Rowang]

I wouldnt without temp controll..

Why not just make a pale ale with the lager malt? works pretty well!

[Barley Water]

Well of course the ambient temperature in your corner of the world is much lower than what we get in the Lone Star state but doing lagers without that control is only going to lead to dissapointment. Over here, if you don't control temepratures doing ales your beer will suffer (try fermenting any British ale yeast at about 80F and see you you don't end up with alot of fusels). I do however have an idea for you. A couple of nights ago we had our brewclub meeting at a local brewery (who can pass up free, fresh beer?). This brewery did German stuff and one of the beers on tap was a Kolsch. I thought that it would be very difficult to tell the difference between this ale and many lagers I have supped. If you wanted a dark beer, you could go the Alt route. This will allow you to ferment warmer and generally speaking make your life easier. The problem with lager yeast is that the stuff is just more difficult to work with and if you can't control especially the fermentation temperature, you are likely to get either off flavors or as a previous poster stated the stuff will just stall you on you leaving you with under attenuated beer.

I have to say that the investment I made in refridgeration made easily the biggest difference in the quality of the beers I brew (but of course, it is relatively expensive). The only yeast I can think of that heat really doesn't seem to bother much is Saison yeast but then that stuff is really quirky also. By the way, just because a malt is mostly used for lagers (like German pils for instance) doesn't mean that you can't do ales with it. Victory brewing uses traditional lager malts in many of the ales they make and they make a very good product. Many brewpubs over here make a Blonde ale which they generally sell to people used to the yellow fizzy lagers. Mostly, it's made with American ale yeast because it allows for quick turn around in the brewery and customers seem to like it but many make it with Pilsner malt. If you really want to "get out there" try making a Bier de Guard with an ale yeast, it works for the French.

[UKTony]

@coatseg 'If you store the malt in a cool dry place, it keeps for some time.' It's now over 3 months since I purchased the malt and it's crushed. Been kept dry sealed in a bag but at room temperature.

I guess the option is either use it for a light ale, wait or mash/boil then cube it until I've sorted out a controller for the fridge.

Given I've got 10kg of MO in stock I don't really want to use the malt for an ale so the cubing option might be best as it will push me to sort out the controller.

[Rookie]

Before I had temperature controll I used steam beer yeast in a marzen and schwarz beer with good results.