Lagering

Is 35 degrees too cold for the first 12 days of lagering before the diacetyl rest?

I think you generally want to do a dyacetyl rest prior to lagering. My understanding is that the ideal situation is when you ramp up to a D-rest at the very end of fermentation before the yeast floc out. Then start to ramp down to lagering.

mjohnson said:

I think you generally want to do a dyacetyl rest prior to lagering. My understanding is that the ideal situation is when you ramp up to a D-rest at the very end of fermentation before the yeast floc out. Then start to ramp down to lagering.

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Yep, this is the typical protocol. Lager after all fermentation is complete.

bperry5003 said:

Is 35 degrees too cold for the first 12 days of lagering before the diacetyl rest?

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As the others mentioned, you lager after the d-rest, not before it. Before the d-rest, you're not lagering, you're just fermenting (albeit, at temperatures cooler than an ale ferment would occur).

Ferment at 45° - 50° F until you're 2/3 of the way to your final gravity. Then raise the temp to room temp for 2 days for your diacetyl rest. Then slowly (about 5° F/day) lower the temperature down to your lagering temperature (33° - 40° F) for 6-8 weeks.

as the others have said!

I believe what I meant to say was.... Is 35 degrees too cold for the fermentation process of my beer that I am going to lager. Thanks for the answers!

bperry5003 said:

I believe what I meant to say was.... Is 35 degrees too cold for the fermentation process of my beer that I am going to lager. Thanks for the answers!

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Yes, that's far too cold for fermentation. Lagers need to be fermented at 48-53 degrees or so. Under 45 degrees, the yeast will be inactive.

Is it fair to assume that the yeast no longer plays a part during the layering process? Having just started cold temperature brewing, I had planned to filter the beer through my 1 micron (absolute) filter into my key and then lager for 4 to 6 weeks.

Once you get below 40 F, the yeast go dormant, so much of the maturation that occurs during lagering is not biological, but is purely chemical and physical in nature