Questioh about brewing lager

Northern Brewer General
1

Hi
I have been brewing all grain ale, stout, and porter. This is my first time doing larger (Oktoberfest). My question is for the primary should I leave it in room temp. (~66) or in my kegerator (40)?
Thanks

2

neither…leave it at the temp recommended for the yeast you’re using. both wyeast and whitelabs give you a recommend temp for ferm for their yeasts. keep it at the low end of the particular range.

:cheers:

3

50-55F is perfect for most lagers.

4

A lager kept at 40 during primary would take forever to ferment if it actually was able to get going at all. Fermented above 60, it would develop some funky flavors.

If you can’t maintain a temperature in the proper range, you might want to consider using US-05 and making a mock-Octoberfest. It will come out better. But even with that ale yeast, low 60s will give you better results.

5

Thanks for the info. The one come with the kit is wyeast 2633 and the low temp for the that is 48. so I am 8 below the low temp… I realized i couldn’t get the temp range so i keep it in my kegerator… the fermentation is going, but slow… I guess by the time it gets ready will be in October… lol next time I know I only can do larger around winter time…

6

40 is all the warmer you keg fridge will go?

7

I have a Summit Sbc500 and I tried to set the the temp to warmer side without shutting down it’s around 45 ~ 40… This morning, after 1 and half day of fermenting, I finally see a nice white about half inch thick of foamy head…

8

For ~$25 you can add an external controller to the fridge. I have a wiring diagram on this site if you need help setting it up.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Digital-Te ... 337349ec47
9

Thanks I will look into it.

10

When should I do the diacetyl rest? it’s almost been 2 weeks in the primary… the kraeusen is start to subsides. Should I do it now then move to the secondary?

Thanks

11

give it another couple of weeks. lagers ferment slower than ales. don’t rush it. want it bad you’ll get it bad.

:cheers:

12

thanks when should I do the diacetyl rest? I have been reading about it… some said before the kegging, some said before the secondary

13

D-rest is after primary and before secondary (or lagering phase). some lager yeasts don’t require a d-rest, others do…like 2206 which I use routinely. Wyeast website is pretty good about uses for their yeast. they say nothing about a d-rest needed for 2633, so you could probably skip that phase without harm.

I typically primary my lagers for 4 weeks, then if it’s at or near my expected FG, I let the temp raise to low 60s for d-rest for 2-3 days. Then I transfer to secondary and begin the lagering phase where i bring the temp down to the low-mid 30s and keep it there for the duration. i leave my lagers in this seconday for 4-20 weeks. then bottle/keg.

:cheers:

cheers.

14

thanks again for the great info

15

StormyBrew, what is a $100 Black Lager? I noticed it in your signature.
Paul

16

[quote=“paultuttle”]StormyBrew, what is a $100 Black Lager? I noticed it in your signature.
Paul[/quote]

I dropped my camera into my mash tun immediately after dough-in of my Schwarzbeir. Doh!

The last pic taken^^^.

Despite lightning quick reflexes of bare hand into the 152F wort, the camera repair bill was $100. :shock: After receiving estimate, I bought a new camera instead. FWIW, the Schwarzbeir is f’n delicious…woohoo!

:cheers:

17

Oh, dang. I’ve been fortunate so far, haven’t dropped anything in (yet).