I have brewed about 50 batches of beer and until a month ago I had no real form of temperature control, the best I usually had was to watch the weather and try and brew when the temps allowed. I now have a chest freezer with a temperature controller and have a good supply of ale on hand so I thought I might give a lager a try. Is it as simple as fermenting at a lower temperature and then a lagering phase? Once the beer is done must it stay refrigerated?
Yes, it’s that simple (pretty much) and no you don’t hve to keep the beer refrigerated after. One other thing to jtake into account is that you need to pitch much more yeast for a lager, so it takes. bit longer to make a starter.
Yep it takes twice as much yeast and twice as long to ferment. You’ll also want to chill the wort to below 50F before fermenting.
Check out http://www.mrmalty.com for more info on yeast starters.
If you look at the beers in the store, there are many lagers that are not in the refrigerator. And I’m not talking about BMC. More than likely these beers are not stored in the warehouse refrigerated either.
I won’t buy a lager that is not refrigerated.
I won’t buy a lager that is not refrigerated.[/quote]
Why not?
I won’t buy a lager that is not refrigerated.[/quote]
Do you really thing that the bottle of has been refrigerated from the time it left the fermenter until it hits the store shelf?
I won’t buy a lager that is not refrigerated.[/quote]
Why not?[/quote]
because I don’t buy lagers, I brew them! bu-du-bum!
if I didn’t buy beer that I knew wasn’t refrigerated, I would never buy beer.
So you never buy beers like Spaten or Hacker-Pschorr or almost anything from over seas? Most likely they aren’t refrigerated on the ride over.
because I don’t buy lagers, I brew them! bu-du-bum!
if I didn’t buy beer that I knew wasn’t refrigerated, I would never buy beer.[/quote]
Got me!
So is the process genrally the same for most lagers or is it different for each yeast strain? Is it X days at Y temp. and then move to a new temp?
I brew kits so I would assume the directions would have this info?
because I don’t buy lagers, I brew them! bu-du-bum!
if I didn’t buy beer that I knew wasn’t refrigerated, I would never buy beer.[/quote]
Got me![/quote]
I’ve been waiting to use that for a while. the time just seemed right. :lol:
Couple points to the OP, as I am newer lager brewer as well (had done about 25 batches before my first lager):
-as people have said, hella yeast. Use Mr. Malty’s free pitch rate calculator, but basically double what you would (properly) pitch for an ale. A 1.055ish lager would require about 4 vials or smack packs, maybe 5.
-I picked up a great best practice from a guy on another forum for lagers, which works great with my system:
-I wanted to brew a beer for my lager starter (first lager was an Okfest). I ended up doing a steam beer with Wyeast Bavarian Lager 2206 (while its not San Fran lager,this is probably close to the historical style, as this is the type of yeast the original steam brewers had). Grew up a small starter.
-After flameout on the steam, I chilled as normal but only down to 120 or so (partially because it was the summer, partially because of the next step):
-Ran off into my fermenter, then placed the ale pail into my chest freezer, taped the controller’s insulated temp probe on it. Set it to 60 degrees.
-In a few hours, the wort is right at 60 degrees. I have another clean, sanitized fermenter on standby. Then I vigorously dump the ‘first fermenter’ into the new one, leaving all the settled trub behind. Aerate again.
-Had grown up a 1000ml starter of the 2206, decanted in the fridge. Cold pitched that into the 60 degree wort.
-The idea being that I could pull a few cups of actively fermenting slurry from the bottom of my steam fermenter for the Okfest. (I did so with my autosiphon, but I imagine if you did it enough in advance, you could just rack off the bottom-fermenting yeast)
-This ‘partial chill then decant’ process also ensures that you will have a clean lager with minimal trub.
Used the same chilling process for the Okfest, and ended up doing a small starter with my harvested yeast from the steam, just to get the yeast active before I pitched into the Okfest.
Fermented at 50 degrees for 4 weeks. I haven’t judged a lot of lagers, but I would venture to say this barely needed a lagering phase, because of a proper, attenuative primary. Jamil says the same thing with lagers - if your primary is as good as it should be, the length of necessary lagering period shortens TREMENDOUSLY.
All that being typed, I love brewing (and drinking) lagers. Everything is subtle…which means as a brewer, you have little to hide behind. A little too estery of an APA, no big deal. Same thing in a helles: just not right. The other problem is if, like me, you only have one fridge, lagers will tie it up for awhile.
Good luck!
Thanks for all of the advice…looks like I am going to need to learn to make a starter.
are you a one vial per batch guy, or do you buy multiple vials? Although the label says so, most homebrewing mavens say that they don’t contain a big enough pitch of yeast. Adequate pitches have made almost as noticeable improvement in my beer as temp control.
Starters are really easy. And fun. Its like a mini brewday, and you get to watch your yeasties grow.
are you a one vial per batch guy, or do you buy multiple vials? Although the label says so, most homebrewing mavens say that they don’t contain a big enough pitch of yeast. Adequate pitches have made almost as noticeable improvement in my beer as temp control.
Starters are really easy. And fun. Its like a mini brewday, and you get to watch your yeasties grow.[/quote]
I usually make PAs or IPAs so 90% of the time I use dry yeast (SafeAle 05), if the beer is over 1.065 I usually pitch 2 packages. We are very active with three kids in sports and other activities so my biggest issue with making a starter is that I usually don’t know when I am going to brew. I might wake up one morning and have a little extra time so I start the fire and off I go.
are you a one vial per batch guy, or do you buy multiple vials? Although the label says so, most homebrewing mavens say that they don’t contain a big enough pitch of yeast. Adequate pitches have made almost as noticeable improvement in my beer as temp control.
Starters are really easy. And fun. Its like a mini brewday, and you get to watch your yeasties grow.[/quote]
I usually make PAs or IPAs so 90% of the time I use dry yeast (SafeAle 05), if the beer is over 1.065 I usually pitch 2 packages. We are very active with three kids in sports and other activities so my biggest issue with making a starter is that I usually don’t know when I am going to brew. I might wake up one morning and have a little extra time so I start the fire and off I go.[/quote]
ha, nice! I haven’t heard much good or bad about the dry lager strains from Fermentis, but maybe they are worth looking into around the interwebs for reviews if you have impromptu brew days.
If you have enough of something already grown up, you can keep it in the fridge for a few weeks, and do a starter the morning of your brewday just to get the yeast active (using my method).
S189 and 34/70 are pretty good dry lager yeasts. Avoid S23 like the plague.
Now he tells me!
I’ve used 34/70 on 90% of my lagers and they’ve come out great. Most of the time I was pitching 1 pack but have since realized that two is probably more within proper pitching range.
yeah, I’m not a fan of the profile either.
