Lager-ale experiment

Finally got off my duff and brewed the Schwarzbier/Ale experiment. Did them as small beers (1.038), the Schwarzbier uses Saflager dried and the other WL London Ale yeast.

Mini-mash

1.25 lb. German Pilsner
0.50 lb. C90L
1.25 lb. Munich malt
0.25 lb. Carafa III (de-husked)

Mash-in 2.5 gallons @ 160F -> 154F for 60 minutes

4 lbs Dark liquid extract
1 lb. Munich "

1 oz. Northern Brewer @ 60
0.5 Saaz @ 15 & 5

Split the wort and topped off to 1.038 (about 3.5 gallons in each fermenter) Pitched them both at 75F, but I'll let them drift down to 70F. The lager goes in the aging cabinet (currently 48F) once the ferment starts.

I'm planning on making some Dwarfish Drop Scones with part of the spent grains.

Neato. This is what I'm doing with my Oktoberfest but unfortunatly I'm doing two separate batches which takes some of the control away from the experiment. I took good notes so I could replicate as best as I could.

I didn't think ahead too well because I realize I could have a significant taste difference if I crack the steeping grains a little more or less in either batch.

From left to right: Blackberry melomel, London Black Ale, Schwarzbier



Both were fermenting well this morning, so I moved the lager into the brewery and wrapped it with my foam camping pad. It's about 46F in there, so I hope the pad is enough to let the temperature drop slowly. More head space than I would like, but the yeast will eat the oxygen & then the CO2 & airlock will prevent any more from entering.

I wanted to throw a tip at ya. If you plan to rack using the spigots, put a plastic baggie over the outside of the spigot after you've sanitized it and hold it on with a rubber band. It could get all funky during your primary ferment and it's not so easy to re-sanitize.

I've been racking via spigots for almost 7 years now. What I do is re-clean the spigot using a baby bottle nipple brush, just before racking. These all have rotating spigots, so it's easy.

Your siphonless fermenter looks a lot like your priming tank....

I just dip the faucet into one step and then turn it over and fill it with one step. (I guess it's the One Step Two Step if you're into dancing...)

The experiment continues:

The ale hit 1.013 on 6 Dec. and was moved to the main garage to clear.
The lager was a bit cool, so I took an old stand-alone disk drive and plugged it into the Ranco and tucked the drive into the box with the Schwarzbier. With 25 watts of hard drive and a nice little fan in the power supply, it has been doing an excellent job of holding the lager at 50F.

Today, 20 Dec., the lager is at 1.010 and has been moved back to the kitchen for the diacetyl rest. I might have waited a bit too long, oh well. The gravity sample has a slight chocolate flavor, which I wouldn't mind if it stays for the duration.

Thanks for the update, I find these kind of experiments very interesting and should start doing stuff like this (if I ever get that lager fridge). Keep us posted.

I only lager in the winter. It's so much easier to warm something up slightly. Between the house, the brewery and the garage, I have the three temperature zones needed.

After five weeks of lagering, I decided it was time to compare these. The lager fermented to 1.010 in four weeks, the ale to 1.013 in five days. The lager got three days back in the house for a rest before going to the garage for five weeks at 35F. The ale has been at 45F for six weeks. Neither has been carbonated.

The results are about what I expected, the ale has more mouthfeel, better head retention and more of the malt comes through. The lager is cleaner, almost no aftertaste and the Carafa III comes through more. There's no difference in color and they smell exactly the same.

Thanks for the update.....I guess nothing Earth-shattering in your results, but two good beers to drink anyway. Not that you'd expect anything to change, but let us know after carbonation too.

Yah, I think the Carafa III might be masking many of the potential differences. Maybe next year I'll try it again with an amber, too many ales lined up for brewing to think about trying something else this winter. Another possibility would be the Poor Richard's Ale.