Brewing Marzen with ale yeast

[Tim Parsons]

Hi. First post on here so go easy on me. Just mid mash on my fourth all grain brew and absolutely loving it. When I bought my kit the fella selling gave me a load of hops some of which are going out of date very soon so in an effort to use them rather than lose them I'm experimenting with some different recipes.

This time I'm doing a Marzen using abbey malt, mandarina Bavaria and safe ale american yeast. It was only after starting the brew did I look into what brewing a marzen entails (as all the steps seemed pretty standard and it says to ferment at 18c). Now I'm a bit concerned as I'm reading it's a lager that should use lager yeast and be fermented at lager temps.

Long story short... have I just wasted a load of ingredients on a lager recipe using ale yeast and ale fermentation techniques?

Any help gratefully appreciated.

 

[Zephyr259]

With US-05 and keeping the fermentation temp on the low side you should get a pretty clean beer. Might not be identical to a later yeast but probably close enough and will still be a tasty beer. Good luck and welcome to the forum.

 

[Tim Parsons]

Amazing! Thanks for the reassurance. I was going to aim around 18c. Would you suggest to keep it lower?

 

[Zephyr259]

I've never actually used that yeast but 18c should be good since it's a clean yeast anyway. Think it can go cooler but someone else would have to advice on that.

 

[Brewed_Force]

You probably won't be able to tell the difference compared to using a real lager yeast and it'll ferment out quicker. Ferment around the 19c mark.

 

[MrRook]

Lots of people brew "lager" styles with ale yeast.

 

[Tim Parsons]

That's great news, thanks all.

 

[Argentum]

Nottingham will ferment down to 10 degrees C. At 10-12 degrees is is quite lager like.

Relatively recent gene sequencing studies have shown that WLP-800 Pilsner Urquell is an ale yeast strain. But at 10-12 degrees C. it is quite lager like.

 

[Argentum]

Brulosophy experiments seem to infer that the cleanest and most lager like yeast when fermented at ~18 degrees C. is W-34/70 lager yeast. Clearly this is the best yeast choice for anyone desiring to make a lager at ale fermentation temperature.

 

[MrRook]

If you can find it Wyeast's pacman makes a nice clean lager like beer at room temperature: 70f (21c)

 

[MyQul]

CML califoria common is nice and clean especially if you ferment on the cooler side

 

[Argentum]

The first link I've provided below shows that at 70 degrees F. Saflager W-34/70 still makes a great lager. The second link shows that US-05 is nowhere near as clean at 66 degrees F. as is W-34/70.

https://brulosophy.com/2016/02/08/f...ager-yeast-saflager-3470-exbeeriment-results/

https://brulosophy.com/2017/03/09/y...us-05-vs-saflager-w-3470-exbeeriment-results/

 

[Tim Parsons]

That's great, thanks for the information! I will most certainly be trying to make a lager at 18 C.

The Mandarina bravaria smash is going into bottles tomorrow and its tasting fantastic.