This is my first time working with lager yeast. I have my primary in the kegerator and it's at 52F. I have bubbling in my airlock, but it's not as fast as what an ale usually produces. Is this normal for lagers? It just seems to be going slow to me.
Lager yeast?
- Thread starter MacGruber
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Yep, that's totally normal.
Cool. I started it at 70F and once it started, I put it in the kegerator at about 65F and gradually lowered the kegerator to 50F. I'm assuming the lager inside of the kegerator is about 54-57F. I'm going to take it down to about 35F for secondary.
android
Well-Known Member
make sure you do a diacetyl rest since you started it warm. if you're not sure what i mean, just raise the temperature back up (8-10 deg) after fermentation has noticeably slowed.
Thanks android. I heard people talking about diacetyl rests here before, but wasn't quite sure when to do it. I was going to raise it back up to about 65F-70F for a day before racking to secondary. Then I'm going to bring it down to about 35-40F. Does this sound right?
Perfect. I do a 2-day d-rest. Then crash to 33. Good luck!
I have a question. It seems that when I first open my kegerator to check on the air lock there is no activity. Then after about ten seconds I get a bubble and it starts bubbling every three seconds. Why would this be? Do you think it's too cold in the fridge and the yeast are not working at the rate they should? Or should the lager yeast only bubble very slowly?
Another question: My kegerator is air tight, does there have to be air flowing through it for this to work? I wouldn't see why as it's a closed fermentation and it's producing CO2. It's just bothering me that when I first open the door to check on it, I don't see any activity then after about 10-14 seconds it starts bubbling like crazy.
android
Well-Known Member
it's fine closed like that. that's how my fermenting fridge is and i've never had any problems with that. also, don't be concerned with the number of bubbles/how often, etc. it really doesn't mean anything. it could be that the co2 takes that long to build up and the pressure only gets the airlock moving every couple of minutes. are you fermenting in a bucket or carboy?
That is an airtight seal on your kegerator, and it will maintain a little positive pressure over the outside. When you open it, the pressure in the kegerator drops and some CO2 comes out of the bottle. Further, bubbles will slowly come out of solution for a while. I see this too. It's totally normal and has no effect on the beer.
Thanks everyone. I'm fermenting in the plastic bottling bucket as primary then will be racking to a carboy. I just bought a second carboy and was going to do all carboy fermentation, but then I quickly realized that I can make an ale while the lager is going. So, I decided to continue using the bucket/carboy fermentation plan.
