I lagered in my primary bucket on the yeast once. The beer was fine. It was probably bottled in six weeks or so. That was a few years back. Now I prefer to lager in a keg.
When I notice air lock activity is slowing I’ll move it to room temp. That’s usually in less than a week. I might take a gravity reading then but I don’t always anymore. It’s always been 10-15 points above FG. I have let it finish at fermentation temps sometimes too. I’ve never had diacetyl problems with a lager (I did get it bad in a stout long ago.) Healthy yeast is most important. I like to do the d-rest mostly because it frees space where I lager and it speeds up the fermentation.
[quote=“Ken Lenard”][quote=“grainbelt”][quote=“WaukeganBrewer”]Sounds good on the yeast…
And yes, I will be doing both primary and secondary in a bucket as a bucket is all I can get to fit in my mini-fridge right. I guess I’ll see how this one goes and hope the oxygen doesnt get in.[/quote]
thats fine but isnt a carboy smaller than a bucket?[/quote]
I think that the neck & airlock come up too high and come in contact with the freezer area (if there IS a freezer area). I can get a bucket or a 5-gal glass carboy in my 4.4cf fridge but the carboy makes it a little tight height-wise.[/quote]
I suppose if you use the standard airlocks there are a few different airlock or blowoff setups. It will depend on how much space you have in your fridge though
I actually have a keg that I just picked up from a retired guy but I don’t have any of the plumbing or a co2 tank just yet. Is it possible to secondary in a keg without the tank? Can I use a keg for secondary and then bottle? Not exactly conventional but would it work? Would it be better than a bucket or is the difference probably negligible? I’m pretty sure the keg would fit in my fridge… I just don’t have the stuff to force carbonate yet. Might be a silly idea but I thought I’d throw it out there.
And yes… it’s the neck of the carboy thats the problem. I could bend down the freezer plate in there and probably get one in there but I’d rather not do that if I can get the bucket to work for now.
Not sure if keg is any shorter a pinlock might be but I dont think a ball lock is but not sure off the top of my head.
You can use a keg but you should have some co2 to seal it up or you will have oxidation issues.
It’s the neck a little bit, and then the stoppers.
As far as fitting the keg in there, it’s narrow enough so that I can place that on the bottom shelf which is only like a half shelf because it has the compressor back there.
Just an update. I decided to go with the Czech Pilsner instead of the World Wide Lager. I’ve got my yeast starter going now, been shaking the crap out of it all night. I got two wyyeast smack packs and did a 1500ML starter (which is what MrMalty recommended) thats doing its thing at about 56 degrees. Planning on brewing either tomorrow night or Saturday morning.
Question to you lager brewers, do you usually cool it and pour out the excess wort, or do you just pitch the whole starter straight in?
Check Mr. Malty again. There is a tab for “ale/lager”, and I think you forgot to change it to lager. Your starter should be closer to 3 liters.
Cool it for at least a day to let the yeast settle out, then pour off the excess liquid before pitching the yeast. That much starter will have an effect on the flavor of the beer if you just pitch it all in. Also, starters are fine to keep at room temperature, no need to make the yeast work in the cold. Even lager yeast prefer to eat and grow at 70F or above; they just make lousy beer at those temperatures. That’s the main reason to pour off the excess.
But yes, do give yourself time to crash and decant. You definitely don’t want to risk the starter “beer” ruining something as light as a pilsner.[/quote]
Actually, I think you have something set wrong. 1.047 OG, 5.0 gal, and two packs at 95% viability, it does recommend a 1.5 L starter.
But yes, do give yourself time to crash and decant. You definitely don’t want to risk the starter “beer” ruining something as light as a pilsner.[/quote]
rarely get yeast packs at 95% viability, except maybe from east coast yeast
It certainly isn’t guaranteed, but when buying from a high-volume HBS I’ve gotten packs that were less than a week old.[/quote]
yes you can find them that new,but its pretty rare IME. I live very close to NB and midwest. Probably 2 of the largest in volume wise in the nation and I rarely see them that new, even looking in the back of the rack for the freshest
[quote=“a10t2”]I guess I’ve just gotten lucky. Three of the five packs in my last NB order were <10 days old.
At any rate, the difference in starter size between a 95% pack and one at, say, 80% isn’t much.[/quote]
i would say thats more than luck, its being shipped twice and still under 10 days?
Once I got a smack pack that was less than three months old, but the norm for me is 9-12 months, so maybe what I need to do to ensure a healthy pitch isn’t generally relevent to this forum.
My mistake on MrMalty, forgot to change the 1 pack to 2.
