I know yeasts have ideal temperatures for fermentation, but has anyone tried to lager an ale in secondary? I have a Roggenbier that just finished primary with a wheat ale yeast at 68 degrees and wondered what would happen if I lagered it for secondary. Any thoughts?
We have a series of four ProAm comps coming up in early June and I made a Belgian Blonde for one of them. Fermented it out, transferred to a keg, and it sat in the cold fridge for about a month. Took it out yesterday to come to room temp, will dryhop (just a little) tonight and in a week or so it’ll go on the gas.
After primary almost all my beers go into kegs (which I use for a “secondary” I guess) and get cold conditioned for at least a week or two. Helps with clarity ands pull the remaining yeast out. I usually then transfer to a new keg, nice not having yeast kick up every time I move the keg.
Maybe I not understanding the question totally… Are you talking more long term lagering like 6-8 weeks? What are you trying to accomplish?
Just curious as to what effects lagering a beer with wheat ale yeast would have. Temps are all over the place out heand I don’t want to mess this one up.
Once the primary fermentation is done, you don’t really to worry about temp as much. Not to say you should leave it at 100 degrees or anything. Temps are only super important while you are fermenting, after that it become less of a concern. Now that it is done, just put it somewhere dark and out of the way that wont get to hot, it will be fine.
That being said, with a wheat beer long cold aging may drop out the haze. Roggenbier beers are typically hazy so that would change its appearance. Flavor wise don’t think it would have much of an impact, though I am not super familiar with the style other than what I have read.
