does lagering take longer?

I was thinking of brewing a bock, but i didnt know it normally used Lager yeast. I was always under the impression that when you use lager yeast, aside from the lower fermenting temps, i also thought that it took more like a month and up for primary ferm. Some recipes on this site say to only ferment bocks with the right lager yeast for about 7 days before you either bottle or rack to bright tank. how exactly does lager yeast work?

jefferym09 said:

I was thinking of brewing a bock, but i didnt know it normally used Lager yeast. I was always under the impression that when you use lager yeast, aside from the lower fermenting temps, i also thought that it took more like a month and up for primary ferm. Some recipes on this site say to only ferment bocks with the right lager yeast for about 7 days before you either bottle or rack to bright tank. how exactly does lager yeast work?

Click to expand...

Basically you ferment at the lower range, depending on the yeast between 40-50f, then just as it approaches FG you raise temp into the 60s for a D-rest a couple days and then drop the temp back into high 30s-low 40s and let it slowly finish and clear very bright. Could be 4-6 weeks from start to finish. After the d-rest you rack to secondary and then lager it.

Some people will lager in the bottle instead of secondary but I don't have experience doing that so can't comment but that might be what you are seeing

Lagers take longer. I did a 1.050 schwartzbier. Three weeks to ferment at about 50 degrees. When fermentation was about 2/3 done, I raised the temperature to the mid 60s for a diacetyl rest. They recommend one week of lagering for every 8 gravity points. For a 1.050 beer, 3 weeks ferment, 6 weeks lager, 3 weeks bottle condition. 3 months from grain to glass.

There was some excellent information given on the lagering process on the latest Beersmith podcast: http://beersmith.com/blog/2013/03/25/brewing-a-lager-with-erik-schmid-beersmith-podcast-56/

I'd give it a listen before you attempt it.

ScottG58 said:

Lagers take longer. I did a 1.050 schwartzbier. Three weeks to ferment at about 50 degrees. When fermentation was about 2/3 done, I raised the temperature to the mid 60s for a diacetyl rest. They recommend one week of lagering for every 8 gravity points. For a 1.050 beer, 3 weeks ferment, 6 weeks lager, 3 weeks bottle condition. 3 months from grain to glass.

Click to expand...

Just curious where you heard the 1 week/8 points. Never heard that before. Seems a little high from what I've heard, like 1 month for 1.050....1 week/12 points.

tgmartin000 said:

Just curious where you heard the 1 week/8 points. Never heard that before. Seems a little high from what I've heard, like 1 month for 1.050....1 week/12 points.

Click to expand...

Ha! I'm about to attempt my first lager this weekend and my LHBS owner told me it was 1 week per 10 points, so a 1.050 lager would take 5 weeks of lager time (or as long as you can wait is the other advice he told me ).

241 - I'll listen to the above mentioned podcast now. Thanks for the link!

Noonan's New Brewing Lager Beer p. 194 "Dextrinous beer from a decoction mash should undergo a secondary fermentation and lagering period of seven to twelve days at 33 to 34 degrees F (1 to 2 degrees C) for each 2 degrees Plato (SG 1008) of cooled-wort hydrometer reading (OG). Lighter beer, lacking dextrins, is usually held for only three to seven days for each 2 degrees Plato of the wort density."

well as far as i can tell i need to wait till i both have the capabilities to lager, like a fridge, and also more than 2 carboys so i can have an ale going at the same time. that will make it easier to just forget about the other one while its lagering

ScottG58 said:

Noonan's New Brewing Lager Beer p. 194 "Dextrinous beer from a decoction mash should undergo a secondary fermentation and lagering period of seven to twelve days at 33 to 34 degrees F (1 to 2 degrees C) for each 2 degrees Plato (SG 1008) of cooled-wort hydrometer reading (OG). Lighter beer, lacking dextrins, is usually held for only three to seven days for each 2 degrees Plato of the wort density."

Click to expand...

This is at 33-34 degrees. Unless you have a dedicated lagering chest freezer with a temperature controller it will be hard to get down that low. My fridge is around 38-40 so I lager a bit longer. The colder the lager temp, the shorter the lager time.

chemman14 said:

This is at 33-34 degrees. Unless you have a dedicated lagering chest freezer with a temperature controller it will be hard to get down that low. My fridge is around 38-40 so I lager a bit longer. The colder the lager temp, the shorter the lager time.

Click to expand...

Actually, according to all of the sources I've read, the higher the temperature the shorter the lager time. Here's a source: http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter10-5.html

afr0byte said:

Actually, according to all of the sources I've read, the higher the temperature the shorter the lager time. Here's a source: http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter10-5.html

Click to expand...

Ah I think you may be right. I reversed that in my head haha