by Oliver » Saturday Jul 31, 2004 1:42 pm
Hi Franky,
Gough is right about the brewing of lagers in winter. That's what I tend to try and do, and brew ales in spring and autumn.
A great beer to put on now would be a pilsner. I know that the Cooper's Pilsner and the Gold Rush pilsner both come with geniune lager yeasts, which will work down to about 12C or so. At these temps fermentation will take longer than if it was warmer, but you'll get a nice crisp lager.
If you go with any other kit, either make sure it's a geniune lager yeast that comes with the kit (take the top off if you can and have a look at the sachet). If you're at all unsure, just buy a sachet of Saflager from the homebrew shop and use that instead.
To clarify something that Gough said, the Cooper's Heritage lager comes with a blend of ale and lager yeasts, so you shouldn't have any problems fermenting this at cool temperatures. Also, some ale yeasts won't be active at temperatures of 15-16C. Others will be fine.
Don't worry too much about buying the Brigalow microbrew kit instead of the Cooper's. As you say, you can always buy the Cooper's down the track. But I'd definitely buy a stick-on thermometer in the meantime.
Cheers,
Oliver