I love exceptions to the rule.
- I before E, except after C, or when sounding like A, as in neighbor or weigh (except for _weird, foreign, science, glacier, _and about 800 others).
- Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November. All the rest have 31 (except February, which has 28, unless it’s a leap year, in which case it has 29).
- Never boil grain (except in decoction mashes).
Outliers and irregularities add spice to life and keep us from falling asleep and into a heap of regimented monotony. And so it is with hybrid yeasts.
We all learn from day one that ales are made with ale yeast and lagers are made with lager yeast. Ales ferment at room temperature, and lagers ferment in the cold. Even those handy adhesive strip thermometers that adorn our carboys feature a nice 2–4°F (1–2°C) gap between the lager and ale thermal regimes (I call this the DMZ).