Yooper

Recipes 

A "clean" well attenuating ale yeast is fine. you don't need much- about 1/3 of an 11 gram package. I like nottingham, because it will leave a nice clear beer behind.

__________________
Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

WhiskeySam

Recipes 

OK, I'm not going to guess what's going on here because I don't think that will help you. You appear to have screwed some things up here, but if your batch is fermenting, than it's nothing awful.

1. Lagers need yeast. Lots of yeast. The only time I'll do a one vial pitch with lagers is into a one gallon starter (actually a 5000ML starter, which is more than a gallon). If you're not doing a starter, you'll need at least four vials, which at 7-8 bucks a pop gets ridonculous fast. Make a starter.
If you look at my prior topics, you will find a story of mine where a bock I was making failed to ferment for over a week, even after doing a gallon starter. Turns out that I had "old" yeast that was mostly dead. I added fresh yeast a week after I made the batch and it took off like a rocket. Turned out to be one of the best beers I made, but I was fortunate that the batch didn't spoil waiting for me to add the yeast it needed in the first place. The lesson, use fresh healthy yeast, and use a ridiculous amount of it.


2. Lagers need temp control. If you say you're fermenting at 52 degrees, then you apparently have that.

3. Lagering lagers is a PITA and it takes forever, but nobody will judge you if you "cheat" and take a sample early. I lager in an extra keg with a slightly shorter dip tube. I will do a keg-to-keg transfer when I'm ready to send it to the serving keg.

Lagers are fun to make, and you'll appreciate the extra work that goes into them if they turn out right. But you're probably the only person who will appreciate it, unless you hang out with beer snobs like us. Your friends will likely just think you make good beer without really knowing what it is that makes the beer good.

You say this is your fourth batch. So if you made some mistakes, just chalk it up to learning. Just don't do them again.

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In the Keg (1) -- ESB

In the Fermenter --
Up Next -- Bock

FLbrewnoob

Recipes 

I bottled it today. It finished at 1.018 gravity, which is just above the lower expected value of 1.016 but well below the upper value of 1.028. Even though it is un-carbonated it had a great taste.

I plan on taste testing it in 3 weeks, which will be April 7th. It was a great new experience, but I think I'll stick to ales for a while until I get better seasoned.

WhiskeySam

Recipes 

You don't learn unless you do it. If you like Lagers, make them.

Congrats

__________________
In the Keg (1) -- ESB

In the Fermenter --
Up Next -- Bock

FLbrewnoob

Recipes 

Thanks to everyone who responded with some help. I especially want to thank Yooper, Lennie, Whiskeysam, and wailingguitar. I just finished tasting my first lager. It was fantastic. It was NOT sweet or syrupy. It was very clear, had a good feel in my mouth and tasted great.

I don't know if I got lucky, I don't have a palette to allow me to give valid judging of beer, or what. But I didn't use a starter, because I really had never heard of one and it wasn't in the instructions that came with the recipe. I also didn't cool the wort to fermenting temp (45 F), I only got it to 74 F also due to lack of instructions and experience. But it is a beer that I would happily pay for if some brewery had made it and it was in the store.

For anyone interested it is called Extreminator Bock and is sold at Alternative Beverage in NC (www.ebrew.com).

Once again, Thanks to all who responded and helped! Next beer is going to be a kit named Belgian Trippel ale. Got a Corny and gas setup for my birthday, last week so I'm going to take a stab at kegging.