Lager questions

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ziggityz

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Im about to make my first lager and Ive got a few questions still left un answered after a lot of digging...

I plan on lagering my beer in my garage for 3-4 months....IL winter will be perfect for lagering so...

1. How much priming sugar (corn sugar) should I use in my 5 gallon batch? Ive seen all these calculators and I have decided to just use the usual 5oz

2. Should I add more yeast at the end of the lagering process along with the priming sugar right before I bottle? I plan on conditioning my bottles at room temp.

Again this is my first lager and 2nd brew so I just need a little guidance.
 
I bottled my few lagers the same as any beer. It did take a bit longer to bottle carbon but that's how lagers do I suppose. Your plan seems fine.
 
I've just been reading so many conflicting posts about lagering..its making my head spin..I saw one about how there wont be enough CO2 left at the end of lagering and I should put more yeast and sugar to get the lager to carbonate
 
ziggityz said:
I've just been reading so many conflicting posts about lagering..its making my head spin..I saw one about how there wont be enough CO2 left at the end of lagering and I should put more yeast and sugar to get the lager to carbonate

It will definitely have an effect. Adding some yeast would speed up the process but I think it would still carb regardless. Add sme champagne yeast, it'll speed it up and won't hurt anything. And it's cheap. I'm just saying you don't have to
 
Using the 5 ounces of priming sugar may work fine, but I'd consider that 4 ounces may be better if you did a diacetyl rest at 68 degrees, but otherwise kept the fermenting lager cooler.

When I bottle a lager, I find that I get more even and dependable carbonation when I add a little yeast at bottling. I would NOT use champagne yeast or anything like that! You don't want a more attenuative yeast when bottling than you used in making the beer, as then you could have bottle bombs. What works well is to mix up your priming sugar as usual, add it to your bottling bucket and let cool. Then add 1/3 package of nottingham dry yeast, stirring with a sanitized spoon to mix it well. Then simply rack the beer into this solution. You don't need much yeast at all, and about 1/3 package is plenty.
 
I do plan on doing a rest. So after you rack into the solution you just bottle straight after?
 
Ok one more dumb question...should i condition at room temp or colder? and how long will carbonation take? Two questions i lied....
 
Yooper thanks for all the help hopefully lagering will go well.....one of the guys in my brew crew put his lager in his attic all winter and it was my favorite bock at our last bockfest
 

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