Help with Lager Fermentation

Hello all,

I have been brewing for a while now as an All Grainer. I have a question about lagers.

When I chill my wort down after the boil to around 60F should I then pitch the lager yeast straight away and stick the fermenter in the freezer that I have set to about 40F or should I ferment at around 65F for a few days then put into the freezer at around 40F?

I guess I don't know at what temp to add the yeast and if I need to cool it down straight away?

All comments and advice is welcomed.

Thanks,

Dean

To lager you typically let the yeast ferment primary for 12-14 days at around 65, then move to the lager chest.

Does the yeast state it's fermentation temps?

I just did my first lager using wyeast oktober fest and pitched when the wort was 58 degrees which is the high end for fermenting temps with this yeast. It did take a few days to get the fermentation going but once it started, it was going strong and I decreased the temp a couple of degrees a day to 53 degrees, which was right in the middle of the 48-58 degree temp range that this yeast works at.

i could very well be wrong here but i think you are off on your temps. you should start fermentation somewhere in the 50's. then near the end of fermentation up it by about 10 degrees for a d-rest. after that rack to a secondary and lower to the 40's for 1 week per 10 points of OG.

there are a few schools of thought on lager fermentation. you can pitch warm (around 60 as you state) and then bring temps down over the next 24-48 hrs to a nice lager fermentation temp (48-52), but you will definitely need to do a diacetyl rest toward the end of primary fermentation due to the initial warm fermenting temp.

on the other hand you can pitch cold, a few degrees under fermentation temp (like 46) and let the chamber warm itself to ~50 and let fermentation happen. this way you get little to no diacetyl and don't necessarily have to do the d-rest (i probably still would just in case). this is the way i do lagers, i don't like to let any off flavors develop if at all possible. i have a large whirlpool immersion chiller that I can get my wort down to 45 in 30 minutes, so that is a nice plus.

you could also get it down to 60 or wherever you can chill to and then cool it in the freezer/lager fermentation chamber until it reaches 46 or so, then pitch, i don't think it'll be a big deal to do that. you can also use that time frame to let the trub settle out and rack off of it (some claim you want as little trub as possible in a lager fermentation).

most importantly, you need enough yeast to get a good lager. i made one 3L starter with some outdated yeast, chilled and decanted that, did another 3L on top of that yeast, chilled and decanted again and pitched the resulting yeast into a lager on Tuesday. By Wednesday morning, I already had some decent activity in the carboy, even pitching cold.

Sreidy12 said:

To lager you typically let the yeast ferment primary for 12-14 days at around 65, then move to the lager chest.

Click to expand...

There isn't one single statement in this entire post that is even close to true.


Listen to Android, pretty much spot on. I prefer to cool the wort down to pitching temps, I just chuck it the fermentation chamber for a few hours before pitching. You have several options.


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Looks like I missed out on the diacetyl rest for my lager. Honestly this thread is the 1st I had seen of it, and must have over looked the section on howtobrew.com. There is a pretty involved thread here that goes into great detail about diacetyl rest and brewing lagers. I know that wasn't the point of this thread but there is a lot of information on pitching temps and what not.

Android is pretty spot on with his process, I pitch at my fermenting temps, I usually ferment at the low range of the yeast as well. I pitch a stirplate starter sized according to mr malty calculator. once fermentation is done I do a d-rest, rack to secondary or to a keg and slowly drop temps to lager range and give it a minimum of 1 week per .010 of original grav, so a lager that started at 1.060 I would lager for at least 6 weeks. personally my lagers typically go for 2-4 months before serving.

Thanks for all the comments, I find this very interesting that you all have different Brewing styles for Lagers! Of course there is no exact way but I thought I would collect the data to share with everyone. I have created a Google Spreadsheet (Anyone can access and add data) you can find it at this link:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AmPxMrhldCwtdGtoeFNxUHJwY0tnaS1aNWlQTnJ1SVE&hl=en

Please add your details and then we can easily compare methods and information. I hope this helps everyone, it sure helps me!

Cheers

Dean

My favorite resource on brewing lager beer:

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Fermenting_Lagers

It's a bit technical, but Kai presents a number of different options, all of which will make great beer.