Lager quickly reached 1.02

I'm fermenting my first lager. After only 4 days in the primary, I noticed that the airlock activity had become very slow. My research on when to perform a diacetyl rest led me to believe it would take somewhere around 10-14 days to finish 75% of fermentation. To be safe, I took a gravity reading, and I am very close to 1.02. Starting gravity was about 1.052, so this should be very close to 75% complete. So I will begin the diacetyl rest now.

A few questions:
1) Is it odd to reach 1.02 in only 4 days?
2) After performing the 2 or 3 day diacetyl rest at warmer temperature, should I immediately rack to secondary? That would put me at the 1 week primary fermentation mark. Or would it be better to just leave it in primary another week at the warmer temperature so that it has 2 weeks to sit in all the yeast?

Some info on the beer:
Style: Oktoberfest
Starting Gravity: 1.052
Yeast: WLP 830 (German Lager)
Fermentation temperature: Temp controller set to 52F. I measured the temperature of the sample, and the beer was 55F.
Yeast Starter: About 3 liters

Thanks!

gregoreckbrews said:

I'm fermenting my first lager. After only 4 days in the primary, I noticed that the airlock activity had become very slow. My research on when to perform a diacetyl rest led me to believe it would take somewhere around 10-14 days to finish 75% of fermentation. To be safe, I took a gravity reading, and I am very close to 1.02. Starting gravity was about 1.052, so this should be very close to 75% complete. So I will begin the diacetyl rest now.

A few questions:
1) Is it odd to reach 1.02 in only 4 days?
2) After performing the 2 or 3 day diacetyl rest at warmer temperature, should I immediately rack to secondary? That would put me at the 1 week primary fermentation mark. Or would it be better to just leave it in primary another week at the warmer temperature so that it has 2 weeks to sit in all the yeast?

Some info on the beer:
Style: Oktoberfest
Starting Gravity: 1.052
Yeast: WLP 830 (German Lager)
Fermentation temperature: Temp controller set to 52F. I measured the temperature of the sample, and the beer was 55F.
Yeast Starter: About 3 liters

Thanks!

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1. No. Normally it is about the same as ales.
2. After the diacetyl rest, and the FG is reached and not changing, then it's fine to rack and lager. Do a taste taste and make sure there isn't any hint at all of diacetyl. In lower amounts, diacetyl is "slick" or an oily mouthfeel on the teeth or tongue. Since a 3 liter starter is very small for a 1.052 lager, I'd make sure to do a thorough diacetyl rest.

Sounds about right for what I have been experiencing lately. My fermentation schedule for most lagers is seven days at 50 and then seven days at 60. I then keg and lager at 34 for a month.

Cool. Thanks a lot for the quick replies. I will make sure it is completely finished before racking to secondary.

gregoreckbrews said:

I'm fermenting my first lager. After only 4 days in the primary, I noticed that the airlock activity had become very slow. My research on when to perform a diacetyl rest led me to believe it would take somewhere around 10-14 days to finish 75% of fermentation. To be safe, I took a gravity reading, and I am very close to 1.02. Starting gravity was about 1.052, so this should be very close to 75% complete. So I will begin the diacetyl rest now.

A few questions:
1) Is it odd to reach 1.02 in only 4 days?
2) After performing the 2 or 3 day diacetyl rest at warmer temperature, should I immediately rack to secondary? That would put me at the 1 week primary fermentation mark. Or would it be better to just leave it in primary another week at the warmer temperature so that it has 2 weeks to sit in all the yeast?

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Yes I would consider 1.020 in four days to be pretty darn quick. Since (as noted by Yooper) you really didn't pitch that much yeast and you weren't fermenting THAT warm, I'm curious about your pitching temperature. What was the temperature of your wort when you pitched? If it was quite on the warm side that would explain your relatively quick fermentation.

With respect to your second question, I would leave it at 60 (or higher) for a couple of weeks, then rack, crash and lager.

Ed4 said:

Sounds about right for what I have been experiencing lately. My fermentation schedule for most lagers is seven days at 50 and then seven days at 60. I then keg and lager at 34 for a month.

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Your hydrometer is a much better tool for setting your fermentation schedule than your calendar.

So true. I always go by gravity readings. The fermentation schedule has just worked out that way recently for all my lagers. Once I achieve 70% of my expected attenuation I ramp the temp to ensure a good finish.

I'm currently fermenting a Lager at 53 degrees. For my d-rest do I just want to bring the temp up to 60? I thought the d-rest temp was in the mid to high 60's.

I have a Czech Pilsner going right now, it reached 1.021ish in about 4 days, at which point I started to raise the temp to 60 over about 24 hours for the diacetyl rest.

when I've done a d-rest I leave it at room temperature. I also only start counting the d-rest time once the beer has reached that temperature. It can take a long time for 5gal of beer to warm up.

I would not d-rest for a couple of weeks. Once you are at FG and not moving rack and then send to lager fridge. I've lowered the temperature 2C per day until reaching lager temperature. Lager as long as you want, but longer is better.

That is a good point, osagedr. My pitching temperature was definitely warmer than my fermentation temperature. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but I added a late ice bath combined with an immersion chiller so that I could get the temperature lower than the ales I brew. Also, since I brew on the stovetop, I do partial mash and add about 1.5 gallons of cold water to the fermenter with the 3.5 gallons of wort. If I cooled the wort to between 70-75F, it was probably around 60-65F when I pitched.

I ended up leaving it at about 65F (my current downstairs room temperature) for 6 days. The gravity reading was the expected FG, so I racked to secondary. I now have it set to 38F in the chest freezer. Plan to leave it there for about 2 months.

Wow 65 for a lager, that explains why it finished so fast. No need for a d-rest with that temp. Lager it for 4 - 8 weeks and call it good. I would try to get it down to 50 next time when your fermenting before you goto the lager stage. Yours will not be bad just not as crisp I would think.

Oh, sorry. I think my post was misleading. I pitched at ~65F but then immediately placed it in the fermentation freezer set at 52F. (Not sure how long it would take to move from 65F to 52F in the chest freezer.) After 4 days it reached 1.02. Then I did a d-rest at 65F for 6 days. Racked to secondary and placed in freezer at 38F.

My most recent lager (a Dort) took off a bit faster than usual after pitching warmer (50-51) than I normally do (46-48). Still going on day 10 though.

I guess it goes to show some yeast is faster then others.

shadows69 said:

I guess it goes to show some yeast is faster then others.

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I have found that most of the lager strains I have worked with (Wyeast 2000, 2007, 2124, 2206, 2308, 2278, 2352, and 2633 as well as Saflager S-23, S-189 and W-34/70) are about the same in terms of how fast they "work" during the main part of fermentation. The main differences I have observed relate to performance in the lower part of the temperature range. For example, W-34/70 (Wyeast 2124) seems the most robust at very low temperatures, compared to S-23 which in my experience has trouble finishing in the lower part of the temperature range. Others have had different experiences.

But I would say all-in-all, the "speed" of fermentation is similar across many of the lager strains I have used, provided sufficient quantities are pitched. This, of course, is the most common mistake homebrewers make, especially during their first few lagers.

You really want your lagers to ferment slowly anyway. Low and slow is the way to go! I also raise the temperature during the latest stages of fermentation to ensure complete attenuation and removal/prevention of diacetyl.

What about when it's time to bottle the lager, do you guys add more yeast and if so how much?

You are 100 percent correct osagedr. I was assuming the pitch rate was correct. Guess I need more coffee this morning. I know I have done the something on my first lager and assuming 1 package of yeast was enough for lagering. I still learning even to this day. I 'm still doing my lagers the old school way of primary then in a carboy for 8 weeks then keg. It seems I can just skip the carboy and go right to the keg for 4-8 weeks. I 'm still on the fence about that, maybe I just haven 't read up enough about that. Also as far,as bottling you can bottle right after d-rest and leave it go for the remained of the time in the cold. Not sure how that works but I have two bottled to see what happens.

Kremlock said:

What about when it's time to bottle the lager, do you guys add more yeast and if so how much?

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Most brewers don't given that there are plenty of yeast still in your beer even after lagering. I bottle from kegs with a beer gun.

Personally it's hard for me to see the downside of adding yeast at bottling. If you are bottle conditioning then you are going to get sediment anyway--why not be sure that your beer is going to be carbed the way you would expect?

Here's a BYO article with some tips and tricks. It's specifically about Belgian ales but the advice will work for whatever you are making.

http://***********/stories/techniqu...212-on-the-yeast-guide-to-bottle-conditioning

Good info thanks.