70 degree primary, 40 degree secondary???

[Professor Frink]

After moving to the Midwest, one of the many things I missed from the Pacific Northwest was Alaskan Amber. I finally found a recipe and started brewing this last Sunday. Anyway here is the recipe:

Alaskan Amber

(5 gallons, extract with grains)

OG = 1.054 FG = 1.015 Bitterness = 20 IBUs

Ingredients

•1 lb. two-row pale malt
•1/2 lb. medium crystal malt
•1/2 lb. light crystal malt
•5 lbs. Munton's unhopped light dried malt extract (DME)
•4 AAU Cascade hops (1 oz. of 4% alpha acid)
•4 AAU Saaz hops (1 oz. of 4% alpha acid)
•1 tsp. Irish moss (last 15 minutes of the boil)
•German ale yeast slurry (Wyeast 1007, White Labs WLP-029 or equivalent)
•7/8 cups light DME for priming

Step by Step

Crush pale and crystal malts. Steep in 2.5 gallons water at 150° F for 45 minutes. Remove grains, add DME and stir well. Bring to a boil, add Cascade hops. Boil 45 minutes, add Saaz hops, boil additional 15 minutes.

Remove from heat, cool. Add to fermenter along with enough chilled, pre-boiled water to make up 5.25 gallons.

When cooled to 68° F or so, aerate well and pitch yeast. Ferment at 68° F for ten days. Rack to secondary, condition cold (40° F) for fifteen days. Prime with DME. Bottle and condition at a cool cellar temperature (50° F) for two weeks. Serve at 50° F in a straight-sided altbier glass.


My question is, will an ale yeast still ferment at 40 degrees??? I also live in Minnesota, and don't have an extra fridge, so I don't think I can do a 40 secondary. Does anyone think the lager temp secondary is necessary??? If so, why? I'm probably just going to forge ahead at 70 degrees, I missed this detail until yesterday. I just assumed an ale yeast would need 68-70 straight through. Thanks for any help.

[brewmonkey]

An ale yeast will not produce much if anything at 40. Since you will have ten days in primary you will (or should be) fermented out. The secondary is a maturation secondary not a "true" fermentation. At those temps the ale yeast will start to drop out of suspension and the beer will mature and start to turn brite. As this is an Alt style beer it would be a step that I would not skip.

[ray m]

I saw that recipe, too, Professor. Did you get it out of "North American Clone Brews"? I, too was distressed about the lager temp. 2ndary using an ale yeast. I've always been under the impression that ale yeasts need room temp to at least carbonate in the bottle. I, personally, would also be leery of doing the 2ndary that cold. The coolest I would drop a carboy with brew + ale yeast in it would be around 60*.

I also don't understand how, when bottle conditioning/carbonating, the yeast would be able to do anything at 50*. That's just too damn cool. You'll never achieve carbonation that way. If I were you, I would proceed as you've planned. After carbonation in the bottle has been achieved, and you want to cold condition it then, then you could put your bottled batch in the fridge for a few weeks.

By the way, if any of our fellow brethren sees fault in what I typed, please feel free to correct me(not that I'd really have to write this anyway;) ). Perhaps I am misinformed and unintentionally giving the Prof bad info.

Edit: I see Brewmonkey beat me to the punch. Brewmonkey, if I were to follow this recipe exactly, I know I'd be concerned about the leftover suspended yeast coming back to life again (after such a cool 2ndary) to carbonate in the bottle at room temp. Would too much ale yeast drop out of suspension (to make it bright) at that cool a temp, and would they be able to "wake up" and finish the task? Please help me understand this ale yeast thing at such a cool temp. THANKS!!

[Professor Frink]

I'm not familiar with term brite or bright??? I've only been brewing for a year. Does that mean clear resulting from yeast dropping out of suspension???

The recipe came from www.byo.com, which is heavily linked to this site.

Here's the link:

http://www.byo.com/recipe/628.html


And thanks for the advice, but I don't see how carbonation could occur at such a low temp???

[DreamWeaver]

I have somewhat adapted this type of cold conditioning with ale yeast homebrews. After primary fermentation slows (4-7 days @ room temp) I rack to secondary for 5-7 days and then bottle for 3 weeks (if I can muster the patience) and if I know the bottles are carbonated after drinking one (or 3), I put 'em in the fridge for minimum of 3-5 days before I want to drink 'em. By adding this last phase in the fridge I have noticed the beer gets much clearer due to the yeast dropping out. I'm not that big on clear beer but it is nice to know if ya want to show one off to your buds. Now, where can I put the 27 gallons that I have in the spare bedroom? I need another fridge for rotation! -DRWeaver- ;)