A partial mash with mostly American Caramel / Pale 2 row and added LME Amber -Wyeast California Lager 2112 This is my 2nd brew and I am just looking to get better.
This is really not a "lager" in the German sense. The California yeast strains - Wyeast 2112 is one - were developed to produce lager-like characteristics at relatively warm temperatures. Wyeast's style sheet indicates fermentation in the 58° - 68° range. Here's a link to the data sheet.... http://www.wyeastlab.com/com_b_yeaststr ... cfm?ID=131 The data sheet specifically states not to lager at very low temps with this yeast. If I were using it, I'd ferment and lager at the low end of the range to keep esters down and use taste to determine when it's done. If you want, once you're done, you can cold-shock the beer to settle out the remaining yeast and increase clarity but with this strain, you don't have to do a low-temp lager.
Thanks! I moved it from 50 to 60 degrees. By the way - other than being flat it tasted pretty good when I drank the beer from my thief (the start and finish gravity readings were dead on).
