Bruiz54

Recipes 

I am very new to lagering and I am preparing to bottle my lagered beer for my father. I wanted to know what temp should I keep the bottles at to carbonate them and how long will it take to reach good carbonation. Anything else I should know about bottling and lagering, Thanks Cheers

Aleforge

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Is the lager your about to bottle in the secondary already? Have you ever bottled an Ale? If so its the same process.

If its an American light lager I think the CO2 level should be around 2.7 (BJCP guideline)

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menschmaschine

Recipes 

It's a good idea to lager to-be-bottle-conditioned lagers in a secondary vs. the bottle itself. Hopefully you've done that.

Strictly speaking about bottling... if you're using corn sugar/dextrose as priming sugar, it's fine to leave them at room temp. If you're using any malt-based sugar (DME, LME, saved wort), you need to keep them at primary fermentation temps (or else the yeast will produce some esters). It should take 3-4 weeks for full carbonation and depending on bottle size.

Bruiz54

Recipes 

Yes, I did have it in the secondary. It stopped smelling like sulfer after about 3 weeks in the secondary so I figured time to bottle. I used LME and DME with steeping grains. So that means it should be left at lagering temsp then?

menschmaschine

Recipes 

When you say DME, LME and steeping grains, I'm assuming you mean for the recipe. I was referring to what you're going to use for bottle priming sugar. If you use dextrose, it's OK at room temps. If you use DME, etc., it should carbonate at primary fermentation temps (like 50dF).

EDIT: What was your OG? That will better determine lagering times as opposed to sulfur smell.

Bruiz54

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I am afraid I do not know my OG as my Hydrometer broke that night. LOL fourth one to do that too. If I had to guess probably 1.044 or 46. I bottle using corn sugar. I thought the smell was given off by the yeast consuming sugar and making by products. The type of sugar it eats can change the odor?

menschmaschine

Recipes 

With that OG I would lager at least 4 weeks. Perhaps you should invest in a pair of kid gloves for your hydrometer. You're correct in that the sulfur odor is a result of yeast by-products. These are typical in lager yeast strains. But just because the odor is gone doesn't mean it's done lagering. Lager yeasts are doing secret and mysterious things during lagering. They clean up more than the sulfur odor... things that will result in off-flavors if you end lagering too soon. How long was it in primary (and at what temp) and did you do a diacetyl rest (do you know whether or not you needed it)?

Bruiz54

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It was in the primary for 4 to 5 weeks. I notice that the smell was gone a week agao so I let it sit for anouther week to be safe. I lagered it at about 35 Drg and I did a two day rest at 64 between primary and secondary. I transfered it when the bubles where about 45 sec apart and I could see that most of the fermentation was done.
When I tasted a test galss last night when I bottled it was quite nice. it is a light american lager which i do not like btu I brewed it for the ol man.
LOL kids gloves ..... I am thinking more of a refrectometer when i have the cash. LOL should be sturdier.

menschmaschine

Recipes 

On second thought, forget the kid gloves. They're made from baby goats and if you've read some of the animal-related threads on here lately, we don't want to touch that subject with a 10 ft pole!. Just try to be more careful with your hydrometer! Although I understand there are correctional calculations you can make, a refractometer is really only accurate pre-fermentation due to the alcohol in fermented beer.

4-5 weeks is a long time in primary. My lagers are usually done primary (and diacetyl rest) at about 2 weeks. What was the primary temp? Due to the long primary time, and since it tastes good, I would probably go ahead and bottle. You may want to add some dry lager yeast (no more than 1/2 pack per 5 gallons) to the bottling bucket due to the long fermentation times.

Bruiz54

Recipes 

LOL perhaps I will just try to be more careful and buy a spare one too.
II think the temp was at 45 or 47 deg for the primary very low. I realize that now but it fermented just took about a month to do the job lol. I did bottle it but I did not add any yeast. How much shoudl one add at bottleing time so I know in the future. i usually use White labs east so I am guessing I want the same strain in the bottling bucket that i used for primary.