First Lager

[ljbrisson]

I've been lurking on these boards for quite a while and finally have a relevant question.

I've been doing all grain for a few batches now, starting to get the hang of making ales. I got a kegerator, mash tun and temperature controller for Christmas, so I am going to try my hand at a lager. My wife also bought me a kit from Midwest for what they call a "European Pilsener." I'm at work so I can't give ingredient specs, but I believe there are 10 rows of 2-row or pilsener malt, 2 oz. of Saaz hops and a packet of dry lager yeast.

I've read in other posts that when brewing lagers some people bring the wort down to fermentation temp (+-50F) "slowly". How slowly? Should I use my wort chiller or just throw my carboy into the temperature-controlled fridge and pitch @ 50F? Should I hydrate the yeast? And at what temp? Also, does anyone have a recommendation for a mash temp for a lager? I have "Brewing Classic Styles" and according to one of the pilsener recipes, 147F is recommended, but that seems quite low. Would I have to adjust my mash time to improve conversion? I batch sparge with a false bottom mash tun.

Please feel free to answer or comment on any of my questions. Also, please do not hesitate to give me any first-time lager-brewing tips you wish someone had told you your first time! Thanks!

 

[winvarin]

I just made a lager (October actually) using a dry lager yeast for the first time. I used the Fermentis Saflager (s-23). Here are a couple of observations I have from my experience (loosely related to the questions you asked).

Mine was also a light European pils. I was shooting for something in the neighborhood of a Stella for my wife

I jacked up the start of my fermenting schedule a little. Nothing beer killing, but noticable in the final product. I pitched 2 packets (rehydrated) at about 70F. The whole thing went into the lagering fridge, where I brought it down to about 60F over a period of 8 hours of so. I left it there until I had active fermentation (according to my notes, it was actively going by the time I got it to 60). I brought it down to about 53F over another several hours and left it there.

Visible fermentation was quick, even at that temp. It was done bubbling largely by day 10. Although a sniff and taste test at day 6 did not show any signs of diacetyl (and I was about 80% complete per my hydrometer), I went ahead and did a diacetyl rest (48 hours at 63F). I left it in the primary for 4 weeks and then moved to a secondary for lagering.

The only "bad" affect I had is that it was very "fruity" at kegging time (even after lagering in a secondary for about 7 weeks at 32F). It was otherwise nice, light and crisp. A little less hoppy than I wanted but it made the wife very happy. I am assuming the "fruit" can be attributed to the high pitching temp. Since the wife is requesting this beer again, it should be pretty easy to prove that. As a side note, after about a month in the keg, in my kegerator, the fruitiness has all but disappeared.

My plan is to get the next batch as low as I can with my wort chiller, then put it in the temperature controlled fridge and only pitch once I hit my desired fermenting temp. A sanitized, clean, sealed fermenter should be OK without yeast for a few hours (or even overnight) until you hit your desired temp.

You should also plan on buying at least one more packet of dried yeast (depending on whether your kit came with the 5 g or 11.5 g packet).

Use the pitching rate calculator on mrmalty.com. Lagers, because of the temperatures at which they ferment, require a higher cell count than ales. As an example, mrmalty.com says a 1.050 lager using dry yeast will need 4.1 packets (for the 5g size) or 1.8 packets (for the 11.5 g size). Remember, everything is going to be happening slower when fermenting at lager temps. You don't want to make your yeast take all that time to grow the colony to the proper size. Give your wort an adequate amount of yeast to start with and your beer will thank you later.

As for rehydrating dried yeast, I always do. As a friend of mine always says, "it don't cost nuthin' but time". And it doesn't even cost much of that. I usually re-hydrate while I am chilling my wort (or 30 min before I intend to pitch).

147F is on the low end of sacc temps, but not unreasonably low. You'll have to mash longer as you point out. But the wort will contain more fermentable sugars than if you mashed at a higher temp. Your final beer will attenuate better and as a result be drier and crisper. I was shooting for 152F on mine and wound up with my mash settling at 153F. The beer is still light and crisp. But it also has a nice body to it. I will likely try a lower temp next time for a crisper finish.

I batch sparge as well and didn't change my process at all. Wort is wort. It only becomes a lager or an ale based on what you do when fermenting.

I think that covers everything. You asked. Let me know if I missed anything. And let us know how the beer turns out.

 

[ljbrisson]

Thanks for the extensive and informative reply. Here's my plan.

I'll shoot for a mash temp of 152F since I like a little body in my pilseners. I'll cool wort with my immersion chiller as much as possible, then will set temp controller on fermentation/lagering fridge to 48F. When wort reaches 48F, I'll pitch 11.5 ounces of rehydrated Fermentis Saflager S-23. After fermentation has slowed (+-14 days), I'll perform a diacetyl rest at 63-65F. Lager for at least 4 weeks.

I'll be posting updates on how this turns out, in case anyone is interested.

 

[Yooper]

That sounds like a plan. I did a decoction mash for my pilsner, and I'm using a liquid yeast (White Labs Czech pilsner yeast). Mine is fermenting at 50 currently. I pitched at 55, because I couldn't get my wort chiller to go any lower! My tap water is in the 40s, but I couldn't get it as low as I wanted (48ish).

Your wife gave you a lager kit, and you got a kegerator set up for Christmas? Awesome wife.