German lager yeast w/ Weihenstephaner clone? this isnt a weihenstephaner clone...

So a few months ago I decided to order some all grain recipes and I built my own with brewmasters brew builder (which is awesome) and I sort of just chose one. the ingredients are as follows:

Weyermann pilsner 7.5 lbs
Organic munich 10. 1.25 lbs
Cara foam .5 lbs
hallertau pellets .5oz x3 @ 60 30 and 15
German lager yeast

I am very new to brewing but I think I know this isn't a weihenstephaner clone. Its a german lager? ?

Anyways, should I still do single infusion @ 153 for 60 and mash out @ 170?

What temperature should I try and ferment it at?

(Again I'm new, so no making fun of me)

What beer from Weihenstaphan did you want? They do make more than one (actually 12 to be exact, 13 if you include what they did w/ Sam Adams).

But that looks like it could be their original lager. Personally on every lager I brew I do a decoction mash at least a double if not a triple.

Looks like it's a munich helles, maybe?

anyway, make a starter. probably 2 or 3L worth of starter(use mrmalty.com pitching rate calculator). once it's done in a couple of days, chill and decant the starter beer off the yeast. I would suggest a single infusion mash at 150 (153 is fine, too I'm sure) for 60m.

Chill to 44, pitch yeast, raise temperature 1 degree every 12 hours(plus or minus) until you reach 50. This is the narziss technique, which will reduce the necessity of diacetyl rest.

Well I can't fit the fermenter into the wine chiller that I had planned on using, and the fridge doesn't get any warmer than 40 degrees.

My plan:
Ferment at room temp for a week then stick in the fridge for 2 weeks. I read somewhere that some breweries do the same thing to move more beer through their fermenters.

Will this work? Or is there a better alternative?

Get a brew belt and a temp controller, stick it in your fridge and it'll warm only the fermentor to whatever you set it too. If you're fermenting at room temp you need to use a different yeast.

If it's Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier you're looking to clone, check out the Bee Cave Brewery Hefeweizen recipe thread.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f70/bee-cave-brewery-bavarian-hefeweizen-35679/
The recipe you listed sounds like a super tasty lager, but maybe a bit heavy on the late hops for a Weihenstephaner Original clone.

Those temp controlers look nice! I can't afford one unfortunately being a college student and spending all extra money on ingredients.

You have me under the impression that its very important to keep the lager at the specified temp so I cleared my yuengling stash and homebrew outa my beer fridge and will be turning it on as warm as possible and turning it on/off whenever necessary >_< haha.

Hopefully it won't get too cold while I'm @ work. Guess I will find out....
Thanks for the recipe like!

Yes you need to keep your lager yeast under 55*f for at least one week. If at that point it is almost done fermenting you can pull it out to finish/diacetyl rest. You should lager it at 35* for a month though.

I won't be trying any more lagers after this one until I have the proper equipment... I can already tell this week is going to be frusterating.

I just hope to see some action soon because I'm not seeing any signs of fermentation yet!

Good news!

The wort is foaming which means the yeasties are awake! I'm not sure how true this is but I read somewhere that once beer starts fermenting the yeast will keep the beer up to 10dF warmer than the air surrounding.
Does this mean it is safe for me to leave the fridge at 40dF (the warmest setting) until it stops producing foam? Or do I need to continue turning the fridge on n off through every day?

Thanks!

if you drop the temperature you risk the yeast going dormant and not achieving your targeted FG. it's best to maintain your temperature, or allow it to slowly rise over the course of fermentation.

Get a fermometer:

It will read pretty close to the real beer temp.

so it appears fermentation has slowed so I turned the fridge off for the weekend since I am leaving town. I will be back on Monday, is this too long for a diacetyl rest?
If so what repercussions will there be?

Someone will be checking on my dog while I'm at the lake so if I absolutely need to I can call the caretaker and have them turn the fridge on.

The warmest it will go is 40dF though, so it will either be around 65dF or 40.

65°F is right where you want it for d-rest.

Awesome! That means next step is lagering... I can leave the fridge onwhen I get back and won't have to wake up in the middle of the night to turn it off/on!

Good luck! Sounds like you pulled it off

Well I have it at about 37 dF, I taste tested it to test it out since 1. Don't have my hydrometer and 2. I don't like to use my hydrometer since I do 2 gallon batches... its hard to dump one of my 22 or so beers down the drain. (I might ask for a refractometer for xmas, but that's awhile away).

Anyways, it didn't taste sweet, so I turned the fridge on. (I'm not sure what it should taste like but I know it should be less sweet since there should be much less sugar.) I guess I will leave it in there for 2 or 3 weeks and then bottle it up.

I will stay posted!