Hey Lager guys!

I have a question. I did a Doppleboch recipe in Zymurgy, it's going to be awesome. In the directions they recommend you rack to a secondary raise for a rest if necessary then slowly drop temps to 28F!! Then re-rack and lager at 35F.

That has to be dangerously close to freezing? Is this a kind of cold crashing for lagers? I guess i'll do it because their crazy mash schedule sure produced a fine beer.

It shouldn't freeze at 28 F. I can't remember the freezing point (esp. in a high-ish ABV beer like a Dopplebock) but I'm almost positive 28 F is fine. And if you get a little 'Eisbock-iness' going on...not a bad thing imo.

It does sound like a sort of cold crash except you're doing it slowly. I'm just guessing but I don't think the 'slow chill' is to let the yeast keep working. I think the low temp it's to accelerate the yeast settling but I've read that if chilled too quickly the yeast can give off some undesirable stuff so that may be why they recommend chilling it slowly.

I prob have that issue at home but do you mind posting that 'crazy mash schedule'?

SpanishCastleAle said:

I prob have that issue at home but do you mind posting that 'crazy mash schedule'?

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You need a BIG mash tun! It's basically doughing in at 100f ( I hit 105f) with 4 gallons of water, 1 hour rest,. Then add 1 gallon of near boiling water (their phrasing) every 15 minutes, do this 6 times total!! It should get you to mashout temps, mine came up a tad short, and I needed to do a 2 gallon sparge at the end.

It makes for a long day, but by the hydro sample I had, I have never tasted a sample so dang malty, it was fantastic.

I must be getting old...now that you posted it I do remember reading that. Malty is what Dopplebocks are all about!

28 is fine for a dopplebock as long as, you know, it is actually 28. If you have one of those analog controllers with the wider swing make sure the bottom and not the middle is 28.

I usually do 30 +/- 1 for everything, since basically no beer will freeze at 29 and I don't want to worry about different temps for different beers. The colder the better though.

On the Brew Strong clarification episode Bamforth said something like a day at 0 C was better than a week at 2 C. The gist being that the temperature is more important than the length of time.

remilard said:

On the Brew Strong clarification episode Bamforth said something like a day at 0 C was better than a week at 2 C. The gist being that the temperature is more important than the length of time.

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Is that for lagering? I was under the impression that 35 was the magic number.