Brewing in our house in the winter is problematic. Ale yeast usually wants temperatures above 65F, and lager yeast wants to ferment at under 55F. Our limited climate control generally varies the house temperature between 65F in the day, and 60F at night, and even the basement gets above 55 regularly.

So, I found White Labs San Francisco Lager Yeast. This is a lager yeast that ferments best from 58F to 65F. My theory is, this is the Anchor Steam yeast; Anchor Steam beer is theoretically a lager brewed at Ale temperatures. I have no evidence for this, but Anchor is from San Francisco, and their Steam Beer is a well known and resepected brew.

“Lager?” is a fairly generic beer, and just happens to use this yeast so it would ferment well in my house. For this batch, I wasn’t trying to create a specific style, I basically just used ingredients I had on hand.

Lager? I dont even know her!

Brew Date: Feb 8, 2009

Ingredients for a 5 gallon batch:

• 1lb Munton Crystal Malt, 60L
• 1oz Millenium hops, pellets 15AA
• 6lb LD Carlson Breiss DME, Pilsen Light
• 1oz New Zealand organic Hallertau hops, 8.6AA
• 1tsp Irish Moss (for clarity)
• White Labs WLP810 San Francisco Lager Yeast

Process:

1. Steep crystal malt in 2.5-3 gal H₂O for 30 minutes, approximately 160F
2. Add Malt Extract
3. Boil for 60 minutes total
• Millenium hops boil for 60 minutes
• Hallertau hops boil for 15 minutes
• Irish moss boil for 15 minutes
4. Chill wort, aiming for to 65-75F final temperature for 5 gallons
5. Pitch yeast starter

Original Gravity: 1.056
Notes:

• I started the yeast on Feb 3rd, using more DME than I expected, G=1.090 in the starter!
• The yeast worked really well, both in the starter and in the primary fermenter.
• Pitched yeast with the wort at about 65F; lower than I had hoped.
• Fermentation was obviously active by 2am that day
• Once again, Marla had to replace the airlock with a blowoff tube while I was at work, to avoid a huge mess.
• February 15: rack to secondary fermenter; Gravity = 1.026
• March 2: Gravity = 1.020
• March 5: Keg it. Gravity = 1.019

So far, this beer basically tastes fine; it’s not extraordinary or different than much of anything, but it’s pleasantly drinkable. And, it fits with my general tastes: not too hoppy, with a bit of sweetness. My apparent attenuation (percent of sugar which was fermented; different yeasts act differently in this regard) is slightly less than expected for this yeast, so it might ferment a bit more in the keg and change over time. The bitterness is a bit odd, I’ve never used Millenium before.

Overall, I’m happy with this beer.

A note about the name: Marla introduced me to the “I don’t even know her!” line of jokes. Daniel’s variation seems to be “I just met her!” I was more familiar with the “yermom” line of dubious humor in college. “Lager? Yermom doesn’t even know her!”