I get the beersmith article sent to email and today it was about making lagers. The article makes it sound hard. Some things I disagree with in the article. One thing is mash temperature he States mash lagers around 148deg. I don’t do that. 70 you 90 minute boils. I don’t do that. 1 day d-rest I do a week. Anyone else get the article
Sounds like it is one man’s opinion, which is no better and no worse than each of ours.
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Spot on Dave!
I say mash, brew and ferment the way that works for you.
I have developed a method of producing lagers that works really well for me, and has earned my beers a few medals over the past couple years, but would probably be scorned by the ‘lager nazis’.
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I bet some of that thinking is old school when malt wasn’t as good as it is now. 60 min boil for me works about 100% of the time. I would bet you could even shorten that up. For your D-rest why not just let it go until it’s done? I do go for high 140s for more fermentables though.
I guess I have to agree that whatever works for you is the best method.
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I get the beersmith email but havne’t seen that one yet…
Depends on the lager for me…why would you mash a doppelbock at the same temp as a pilsner? Makes no sense to me. If I want a malty full mouthed darker lager it gets mashed at a higher temp. For my pils and vienna I mash below 150. Just like my water adjustments are different for different styles…
I did a helles a while back and did a triple decoction then boiled for 90 minutes…long day…great beer! Other than that I usually boil for 60 minutes.
My D rest is usually 3-4 days.
I agree with you all. I found my lagers do benefit from a hochkurz mash. For lighter body beers the shorter the alpha rest; more body beers get a longer alpha rest.
I’ve also found for me that a quicker fermentation schedule based on Narziss and Noonan methods work wonders without detriment to the beer.
