Lager Fermentation Headspace

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ayoungrad

ayoungrad

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Never made a lager before. Intuitively it sounds like I may not need as much headspace as I need with ales?

My early plans:

OG somewhere in the 1.060-1.070 range.
Saflager W-34/70 at proper pitching rates.

I will be fermenting in my ale pail in my temperature controlled frig.

I want to maximize wort volume. How much headspace will I need?
 
I usually get 3 to 4 inches of krausen on my lagers fermented at 50f. Sometimes more although that is rare. I ferment lagers in a 23 liter glass carboy and a better bottle.
 
Thanks for the quick response. My goal is to end-up with a filled-to-the-brim 5 gallon carboy for lagering. It sounds like 5.5-5.75 gallons in the ale pail should be ok?
 
More krausen than I would have thought. But it looks like my volumes should work.

Thanks.
 
I never seen more than 1 inch of krausen in my lagers, I only did 4 of them so far but based on that experience headspace is not an issue when fermenting lagers, you can litterally fill your fermenter all the way up and still be good. But I like my lagers to ferment at no higher than 48F
 

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