Well I just couldn't wait for winter. I went ahead and took the plunge and brewed my first lager! Ive been brewing all-grain Ales for quite some time now, and have yet to even attempt a Lager, especially for the fact that I live in Florida, and add on top of that, all of the horror stories I read on here about the problems people have had doing their first lagers, getting lager yeasts to start, etc. And I must say, so far either I have been lucky, or its just really not much more difficult than doing an ale.
I went with a nice, simple traditional bock recipe, and fiddled with my laundry room fridge for a week and finally managed to get it to hold at 48-50 degrees constant. So I made a 2L starter with Wyeast Bavarian lager on Thursday night, and I must say, it did take a bit for it to really take off. By the time I brewed up the 2.5g batch of wort, and chilled it to 60F on Sunday, the starter looked to be at high krausen. What luck! So I aerated and pitched the starter, and 8 hours later it is happily churning away in the fridge! So I'll keep checking the gravity every weekend until it gets down to the D-rest range, then raise it to 65 in my ale fermentation chamber for a couple of days, then rack over to a secondary and throw it back in the fridge until it finishes.
Just wanted to share my experience with Lager brewing thus far with those that may be a bit skeptical. I'll update as the process progresses. Wish me luck!
I went with a nice, simple traditional bock recipe, and fiddled with my laundry room fridge for a week and finally managed to get it to hold at 48-50 degrees constant. So I made a 2L starter with Wyeast Bavarian lager on Thursday night, and I must say, it did take a bit for it to really take off. By the time I brewed up the 2.5g batch of wort, and chilled it to 60F on Sunday, the starter looked to be at high krausen. What luck! So I aerated and pitched the starter, and 8 hours later it is happily churning away in the fridge! So I'll keep checking the gravity every weekend until it gets down to the D-rest range, then raise it to 65 in my ale fermentation chamber for a couple of days, then rack over to a secondary and throw it back in the fridge until it finishes.
Just wanted to share my experience with Lager brewing thus far with those that may be a bit skeptical. I'll update as the process progresses. Wish me luck!
