I'm brewing a bud light clone for my dad and the recipe says to ferment at 62 for 2 weeks then transfer to secondary and ferment 4 weeks @ 58. My question is can I just leave it in the glass and lower the temp for the final 4 weeks. The only 6 gal glass I have is the one it's in now.
Secondary or not
- Thread starter soubre
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I wouldn't. You're making a super "clean" beer, and 6 weeks on the yeast will cause some yeast character and flavor. You should have a 5 gallon carboy for lagering a 5 gallon batch.
amandabab
Well-Known Member
Yooper's brewed everything
she invented fizzy yellow beer
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f62/fizzy-yellow-beer-120939/
Ha- thanks for the vote of confidence. But, no I have not brewed a Bud Light Clone exactly. I've brewed other light American lagers, though, and they've been very good. I prefer corn adjuncts in my light lagers instead of rice (like Bud) so I've done more with corn than rice in light lagers.
I've never brewed a light lager in the 60s, though, or lagered in the high 50s, so I assume you're using ale yeast or a hybrid lager yeast.
soubre said:
Well, what's done is done, but 60s is too high a temp for a lager yeast. I'm sorry to say that I wouldn't expect the beer to be a bud light clone - too estery with probably a fair amount of fusel alcohols. At this point there is nothing you can really do, so you might as well ride it out and see what you get. In the future, lager fermentation temps new to be in the low 50s max and then lagered in the 30s or 40s. If you can't get your temps that low, try an ale yeast instead.
FWIW, S-23 is the dry alternative for some "steam" beer kits, so I'm guessing it'd be more tolerable of the higher temps than many other lager strains, although I've never used it myself.
I'd trust the temp controller unless you have reason not to. I'm assuming it has been calibrated, and assuming that your stick on thermo is as inaccurate as the ones I own.
For the secondary aging, or lagering, I'd do it as cold as you can. 32 would be ideal, but anything from the low 50's on down will do.
Ferment in primary until FG is stable for a few days, then rack to secondary and slowly lower to lagering temps over a few days. Hold it there for ~one day for every point of OG (i.e. OG-1.04, lager for ~40 days).
Y does it take so long to lager. ? I used 6 pounds 2row and 3.5 pounds rice. Do u have a good kolsch recipe ( extract). Or maybe a creame ale. I also have a red and brown ale in the ferment chamber @ 62. Both made the same day and the brown ale taste good so for but the red is bitter with no flavor!
CBXBob
Well-Known Member
I believe lager is synonymous with aging. That's why it takes so long 
. And bitter flavors usually diminish with age. The Caribou Slobber (Brown Ale) I did was bitter to start, but smooth after 2 months in the bottle.
. And bitter flavors usually diminish with age. The Caribou Slobber (Brown Ale) I did was bitter to start, but smooth after 2 months in the bottle.You may find this useful - http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter10.html
It would, but you really don't want that much headspace in secondary.... in primary it's ok because the fermentation will produce co2 to fill that space. But in secondary, you want as little headspace as possible.
i use that s-23 in my steam beers on a regular basis. 61 degrees. i'm told my california common is my best beer, so i am guessing you won't have yeast caused off flavors either.
