My first Lagering

Well, I'm about done with my Lager I think.....I didn't use a true Lager yeast, cause this was my first time trying the Lager process. I went with Nottingham.

6.00 lb Munich Malt
2.00 lb Pilsner Ger
1.00 lb Caramunich
1.00 lb Wheat, RED
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
1.00 oz Tettnang [3.80 %] (60 min) Hops 11.1 IBU
0.25 oz Challenger [7.10 %] (60 min) Hops 5.2 IBU
0.25 oz Tettnang [3.80 %] (5 min) Hops 0.6 IBU
0.75 lb Dextrose "I needed to the alcohol content..I missed my number"
1 Pkg Nottingham

OG=1046

I let it ferment in my outside sink with frozen 2L bottles....I kept a pretty constant temp of 53-56f. for 9 days. Fermentation was finished, and I let it sit another 5 days at 56-59f.

I brought it up to 60f on day 14....and took a sample and a reading. FG=1006

And it tasted great!!! Nice and malty! Wayyy maltier than the last time I used Nottingham at 70f.


My question is what do I do now? Keg it?

sorry bout the double post!

Its probably maltier because of that 6lbs of Munich you used.

You didn't really lager your beer, you just did a good job at keeping your fermentation temperature under control.

If you really want to "lager" it, then rack it off the yeast into a clean carboy and put it away in the fridgerator or keezer for a month or so, and get that temp down really low like 34-35F - basically just above freezing. Or you could do like you said and just go ahead and keg it and enjoy.

Congrats on the successful brew.

So,could I keg it and let it sit in the frig for a while?? a few weeks or something like that.... Under pressure or no?

Sure you could do that. I'm not sure what difference lagering the beer will make if you didn't use a lager yeast to begin with though. Go ahead and keg it and drink it if you're happy with how it tastes. I'd be tempted to lager it a few weeks in a secondary if for no other reason than to let it clear and crash as much of the yeast out as possible - I don't care for yeasty beer personally.

I often will keg beers and then lager them in the keg for a while before drinking them.

Lagering is not required for ales, but will definitely improve any beer, creating a smoothness and removing any off flavors. Basically, things "fall out" when it's cold, speeding up the conditioning process.

That should be a damn good beer.