jasonsbeer
Well-Known Member
Working on my first lager. Boiled up an Oktoberfest yesterday, used a double decoction mash, which went OK, but is another post. Since this was my first lager, I did some reading. A saw a few people mention they like to start their lager fermentation at warmer temps to give it a good start. Then cool it down after ~12 hours or so. Seemed like a good plan.
I built up a starter of WLP830 - 1 liter on Wed night, 2 liter on Thursday night. Brewed on Friday - OG = 1.053, dead on. Pitched the starter into the empty carboy and ran the wort into the carboy from my CFC. Stuck my blowoff tube on - just a habit, always use it. Shook it for a minute or two. Set my Harvest Gold fridge to 60* and stuck the carboy in. No activity at bedtime (~4 hours in). No surprise there.
Checked it at 7:30 in the morning and it had already blown off. I cranked the chamber down to 50* and still tonight it's fermenting like crazy. Constant bubbles from the hose. Granted, not a lot of headroom in there, but hardly the slow, boring fermentation I had expected. You guys must be doing something wrong! :cross:
I built up a starter of WLP830 - 1 liter on Wed night, 2 liter on Thursday night. Brewed on Friday - OG = 1.053, dead on. Pitched the starter into the empty carboy and ran the wort into the carboy from my CFC. Stuck my blowoff tube on - just a habit, always use it. Shook it for a minute or two. Set my Harvest Gold fridge to 60* and stuck the carboy in. No activity at bedtime (~4 hours in). No surprise there.
Checked it at 7:30 in the morning and it had already blown off. I cranked the chamber down to 50* and still tonight it's fermenting like crazy. Constant bubbles from the hose. Granted, not a lot of headroom in there, but hardly the slow, boring fermentation I had expected. You guys must be doing something wrong! :cross: