[brulosopher]

Fermenting under pressure at higher temperatures has been said to allow brewers to produce lagers quickly by suppressing formation of expected esters and other undesirable character. To test this out, we had a panel of blind tasters compare the same lager beer fermented at an absurdly warm temperature, only one batch was under higher pressure. Results are in!

http://brulosophy.com/2016/06/13/under-pressure-pt-3-the-impact-of-pressurized-fermentation-on-lager-exbeeriment-results/

[beersk]

Interesting. I'm surprised it didn't produce different results. But I wonder if they'd be different at the same temperatures. I'm betting so.
Either way, I'm not sure of the merits of actually fermentation under pressure, rather than using the spundapparat for natty carbing the beer at the end of fermentation. That's the reason I'm wanting to piece one together.

[brulosopher]

But I wonder if they'd be different at the same temperatures.

Both batches were fermented at the same temp, just different pressures. We previously compared the 82˚F w/ no pressure to a 60˚F w/ no pressure and they were reliably distinguishable.

[beersk]

Oh, whoops. Misread that bit. Thanks!

[erockrph]

I'm wondering if you need a specific yeast strain to see the benefits. Since 34/70 is so clean at higher temps anyways, it might not be the best choice. Maybe a more finicky lager strain would give a bigger delta? One suggestion would be the Budweiser strain (WY2007). I know it is still pretty clean even fermented close to 60F, but if any strain is being used under pressure commercially, I would guess that this is one of them.

Another one is White Labs WLP925 High Pressure Lager Yeast, which is up for order in the Yeast Vault (https://www.whitelabs.com/yeast-vault). I wonder if this would give a more notable difference.

[frumpland]

Steam Beer and Lager are being confused.