First lager...question about diacetyl rest

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Poppleton

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I'm brewing my first lager and so far so good with primary fermentation.

According to my refractometer I have gone from 11.4 brix at 75 degrees to 7.1 brix at 50 degrees. So I think I am close to the end of primary fermentation. It has been about 3 weeks.

From what I've read I should go to 60 degrees for 48hrs next to do the "diacetyl rest", then bring it back down to 40 degrees for the remaining 4-6 weeks. Is this the idea?

Also, I am fermenting in a conical fermenter (Blichmann). Should I remove the yeast and trub after the diacetyl rest and let it condition in the conical? Is there any downside to moving the beer to corny kegs for conditioning? I would like to free up my conical for the next batch if this won't compromise the one I'm doing now.

Lastly, towards the end of conditioning I am thinking of filtering my beer from one corny keg to another using CO2 and a cartridge filter system. I know this is not essential but I want my beer to look super clean. Any suggestions on when and how to go about this.

Thanks
 
You can condition in kegs. If you're doing this, I would filter before it goes into the keg. I've never filtered personally, but I think that's the general idea of filtering. Filter at the last step before kegging. You have the right idea on the diacetyl rest. I would remove it from the yeast after the rest is done.
 
Isn't it necessary to condition the beer prior to filtering? I have read that filtering will remove the necessary stuff to allow proper conditioning. That is why I was thinking of filtering after conditioning.
 
Usually when people filter, they do a two stage process. There's one filter to pull out all the large stuff. Then a smaller, maybe 1 micron or less filter, to pull out the miniscule things like yeast. I think if you use a 5 micron to start, transfer to your keg, and then transfer through a 1 micron filter into another keg after conditioning, you'll have a very clear beer.
 
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According to my refractometer I have gone from 11.4 brix at 75 degrees to 7.1 brix at 50 degrees. So I think I am close to the end of primary fermentation. It has been about 3 weeks.
...

So you have gone from approx 1.046 SG to approx 1.027 SG? Are you using software to correct for ethanol in your later readings? If your using software to correct for the ethanol and 7.1 is the corrected brix then you seem a bit high to me. If your not using software then it looks like your corrected current brix is 4.1 (1.016 SG) which looks like you are getting close to a proper finished gravity. (Of course I haven't seen your recipe so I don't know what your expected final gravity might be)
 
So you have gone from approx 1.046 SG to approx 1.027 SG? Are you using software to correct for ethanol in your later readings? If your using software to correct for the ethanol and 7.1 is the corrected brix then you seem a bit high to me. If your not using software then it looks like your corrected current brix is 4.1 (1.016 SG) which looks like you are getting close to a proper finished gravity. (Of course I haven't seen your recipe so I don't know what your expected final gravity might be)

I'm using the brewheads.com calculator. Brewheads.com - Beer Statistics
Alcohol is accounted for. Thanks for the clarification.
 
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