So I brewed up a Cream of Three Crops on Saturday. Only after I had crushed the grain and cooked the rice did I realize the recipe was for a 10gal batch.
Once I realized that I started looking for what I needed for a double batch. I was covered on everything but yeast. I only had 1 package of US-05, and my Notty which I'm washing wasn't ready at all. I did have a Bavarian lager yeast strain that I bought on accident a while back.
Note: I've done a lot of ales, but never a Lager.
I decide to give the Bavarian yeast a shot. (I don't remember the name, I'll have to look it up in my notes this evening.) The brew went fine, mashed at around 150-152 for 90 min. OG came in at 1.054 @ 78degF.
Re-hydrated and pitched the Safale US-05, and put the primary into an ice bath (68ish deg).
Re-hydrated the lager yeast and pitched as well. Put in the ice bath with a shirt over for a little extra evap. cooling. I threw a thermometer under the shirt so I could watch the temps. Sat over night, the next morning the temp was still in the 64-65 range. I then decided it likely wasn't cool enough and transferred the carboy to my kegorator. Raising the temp of the kegorator to 45deg (was 38deg). Beer sat in there for about a day now. I raised the temp again today at noon to 48, in hopes the beer would sit around 50deg.
Couple things/questions I have at this point.
From reading other lager posts, I have a feeling I've under-pitched the yeast. I have another package of the same yeast strain still in the fridge. Should I pitch more in, dry or rehydrated? Should I just leave it alone?
I gave it a gentile swirl this afternoon, incase the cold temp change dropped the yeast out.
I'm thinking I should probably do a diacetyl rest especially since I pitched at around 70deg? How do I know when to do the diacetyl rest?
Little activity so far, should I raise the temp some more or let it sit at 50deg.
In the future I'll probably make a starter.
Any tips or suggestions?
Once I realized that I started looking for what I needed for a double batch. I was covered on everything but yeast. I only had 1 package of US-05, and my Notty which I'm washing wasn't ready at all. I did have a Bavarian lager yeast strain that I bought on accident a while back.
Note: I've done a lot of ales, but never a Lager.
I decide to give the Bavarian yeast a shot. (I don't remember the name, I'll have to look it up in my notes this evening.) The brew went fine, mashed at around 150-152 for 90 min. OG came in at 1.054 @ 78degF.
Re-hydrated and pitched the Safale US-05, and put the primary into an ice bath (68ish deg).
Re-hydrated the lager yeast and pitched as well. Put in the ice bath with a shirt over for a little extra evap. cooling. I threw a thermometer under the shirt so I could watch the temps. Sat over night, the next morning the temp was still in the 64-65 range. I then decided it likely wasn't cool enough and transferred the carboy to my kegorator. Raising the temp of the kegorator to 45deg (was 38deg). Beer sat in there for about a day now. I raised the temp again today at noon to 48, in hopes the beer would sit around 50deg.
Couple things/questions I have at this point.
From reading other lager posts, I have a feeling I've under-pitched the yeast. I have another package of the same yeast strain still in the fridge. Should I pitch more in, dry or rehydrated? Should I just leave it alone?
I gave it a gentile swirl this afternoon, incase the cold temp change dropped the yeast out.
I'm thinking I should probably do a diacetyl rest especially since I pitched at around 70deg? How do I know when to do the diacetyl rest?
Little activity so far, should I raise the temp some more or let it sit at 50deg.
In the future I'll probably make a starter.
Any tips or suggestions?
