I was thinking about trying to brew the Dusseldorf Altbier from BCS. My basement temps in the winter are in the mid-50s. Jamil's recipe (Cowboy alt) calls to use german ale yeast (I'd use Wyeast 1007) and ferment at 60°. It also calls for lagering 4 weeks before bottling.

Do I need to worry about lagering at a temp lower than the fermentation temp of 60°. I assume that after active fermentation is done, if I remove the fermwrap and leave it on the cement floor, I could get it down to the low 50s but I don't have refrigeration for brewing. Hoping the lagering period only means at the fermentation temp, but if it means 40s, I will have to skip this until I (hopefully) get an extra fridge to use for homebrewing.

Layering means cold storage when it comes to beer. Usually as close to freezing as possible.

Thanks dannypro.
Figured that was the case. Actually considering using the friedge in our in-law apt seeing that the in-laws are in FL til summer. Would just need to remove some shelves and the bottom drawers.

One more question:

If I follow the BCS instructions and lager for a month before bottling, do I need to add some dry yeast to the bottling solution? If it's been lagered for a month in the mid 30s, I would imagine the Wyeast 1007 will have dropped out and left me w/o the yeast needed to carb up in the bottle.

Here's a silly question, but may help...

...what yeast did you use?

There should be enough yeast in suspension if either ale or lager yeast, but I wouldn't do a transfer to another vessel, just let it rest for a while at 50*F. By definition lager means "to rest". Most turn of the century brewing concerns used caves just above freezing to do this. Charley P documents lagering at warmer temps with satisfactory results in his books, its just about letting the lil beasties do their thing over time.

hth,
Alan

Alan, haven't brewed this yet but the yeast will be Wyeast 1007 German ale yeast. From what I can find on the subject of dusseldorf alts, they tend to be brewed cool for ale, and layered as if it's a lager (cold), but I can't be sure that's what JZ's instruction mean in BCS. He just says be sure to lager 4 weeks before bottling

Plusis it wise to keep it on the yeast in the primary that long?

In my experience I have found it helpful to repitch some yeast in beers that have been lagered for a longer period of time and at very cool temps. I have found that the beers that I did extended lagering with and did not pitch extra yeast did carbonate over time but the ones that I pitched extra yeast carbonated quicker and had a better head. At bottling I would try to pitch yeast that is close to the same yeast you used to make the beer with though so you don't change the intended flavor. Hope that helps.