Confused about lagering process

[Goetinger]

Hi all,

I am confused....
So here is my process so far:

-brew wort
-cool wort to 60 degrees
- pitch 1/2 liter of WLP838 slurry from old batch
- glass carboy is placed in an ice-bath cooler at 50 degrees until krausen starts disappearing (usually 2 weeks)
- stop dropping daily ice blocks, and raise temp to 60 degrees for two days (d-rest).

...now what?

If i bottle, i would need to carb at room temp right? For how long, a week? Then do I put the bottles in the fridge (36 degrees) for a month? I cant get my ice bath cooler much colder than 45 degrees.

curious what bottling folks out there do with their lagers.

 

[pumpkinman2012]

I brew the wort
Cool it below 70°
Pitch the yeast, I use WLP833 German Bock Lager Yeast, and put it to ferment at 50°
At 3/4 fermented, I pull it from the cooler and warm to 60°-62° for 3 days for the D-rest then put it to lager for 6-8 weeks at approx 33° -35°.
I rack to a bottling bucket while still cold, I add 1 gram of EC-1118 yeast per 6 gallons, add priming sugar, bottle & cap.
I leave at room temp to carbonate, after 3 weeks in the fridge they go, after a few days, the fun starts.

 

[dermotstratton]

I cool wort to 50. Ferment until about 80% expected attenuation and then let beer free rise to RT over 3 days and fully ferment. Then I rack to keg and put enough CO2 to seal the lid. I then lager that keg at 35 for 2 months. Then I hook up tap and pour off a pint or two of hazy looking beer, and force carbonate for two weeks at 12 psi.

I have not attempted a bottle conditioned lager, but would need to change approach if I did.

 

[whoaru99]

I bottle conditioned mine at room temp. You could do it cooler too but it'll take quite a bit longer.

I lagered a Maibock for 8 weeks or so. Didn't need to add any more yeast, it carbed up just fine.

What do you figure the pitch rate is in your slurry? Lagers like lots of yeast...

 

[02fx4dude]

I cool wort to 50. Ferment until about 80% expected attenuation and then let beer free rise to RT over 3 days and fully ferment. Then I rack to keg and put enough CO2 to seal the lid. I then lager that keg at 35 for 2 months. Then I hook up tap and pour off a pint or two of hazy looking beer, and force carbonate for two weeks at 12 psi.

I have not attempted a bottle conditioned lager, but would need to change approach if I did.

You just described my process exactly, except I lager 4 weeks, connect CO2 and let it carb three weeks while finishing lagering.

 

[dermotstratton]

Yeah, 8 weeks at 35 might be overkill, but if you have time it won't really hurt. I've been meaning to experiment with different lagering times and see if I can notice a difference.

 

[whoaru99]

Don't recall where it came from, but I saw 1 week of lagering for every ten points of OG is a good rule of thumb.

 

[bajaedition]

I lager my Oktoberfest for 5 1/2 months
my regular lagers for 5 weeks
my light lagers for 3 weeks

then I filter and force carbonate

 

[JimRausch]

I too do my lagering in bulk, before bottling. Vienna lager was for 4 weeks, Oktoberfest for 5 weeks, and my dopplebock I'll leave for probably 3 months before bottling. Then the standard 3 weeks of bottle conditioning at room temps before storing back in the 'cold garage'.

 

[mattd2]

I have also wondered if you can lager in the bottles (could you ferment @ 50, trasfer to bottling bucket with priming sugar, bottle and then go straight into the fridge for 4-12 weeks. then pull them out and keep them at 70+ for 3-6 weeks to (hopefully) carb?
But this would take up more space than a 5 gallon fermenter (although it can be broken up between many shelves, I just don't think the wif would be happy with 3/4 of our fridge being bottles!)

 

[BigFloyd]

I'm looking for a clean flavor, so I pitch cooler (44-45*F), let it rise on its own to 48, bump it to 50 after a few days and keep it there until ready for a d-rest (75-80% of the way to expected FG).

Once done, a 5-7 day cold crash at 35-36*F and then to the keg for lagering at least a week for every 10pts OG (5 weeks for a 1.050 beer).

 

[Beernik]

I have bottle lagered several times without any problems. My current two brews will be the first that I bulk lager and then bottle.

I had the brilliant idea today that I can bring the beers down to lagering temperature first, then rack them for lagering and hopefully transfer less trub.

 

[Goetinger]

so I fermented at 50 for 3 weeks, bottled, carbed for 3 weeks, and i still get a strong acetaldeyde flavor. I am trying to lager the bottles in the fridge for several weeks to see if it helps. The acetaldehyde was not there prior to bottle priming, so not sure what is going on.

 

[Beernik]

so I fermented at 50 for 3 weeks, bottled, carbed for 3 weeks, and i still get a strong acetaldeyde flavor. I am trying to lager the bottles in the fridge for several weeks to see if it helps. The acetaldehyde was not there prior to bottle priming, so not sure what is going on.

Sounds like you didn't lager. Leave the bottles in the fridge for 3 - 6 weeks.