First Post, First All Grain, First Lager, all in one!!!

[winterparkmg]

Hey everyone!

New to posting here, but have used to forums for info for a long time. My name is William and today I decided to up the ante of my partial extract ales and go all grain with a lagering recipe. I'd like to know what you guys think of the possibilities here and how I might be able to improve my methods/lessons learned from others encountering different outcomes with all grain recipes.

Here was my process:


Augustfest Lager
22 Aug 10

Starter wort from 1 lb grain boiled, chilled, and pitched at refrigerator temperatures. Let ferment for 1.5 days at room (77 iF) temperature. No noticeable pressurization of starter bottle. Diacetyls are DEFINITELY present. Smells like butterscotch.

Yeast: WLP 820 (Oktoberfest)
The recipe is identical to EdWort's Oktoberfest HERE, but I went with the WLP 820 to lager it instead of the proven Kolsch yeast option.


In Mash Tun (5 gallon cylindrical drink cooler),
12 lbs grain
14 qts water at 42 iC.

40 iC for :20

Added 3.7 qts boiling water

Temp 51 iC for :30

Removed 4 qts wort and heated to boil
Added heated wort + .8 qts clean boiling water

Temp 58 iC for :30

Removed 3 qts wort and heated to boil
Added heated wort

Temp 67 iC for :30

All reheatings and processes took awhile to set up, so actual mashing times and rests were probably extended more than normal.


Final mash contents:
18.5 qts water
12 lbs grain


Took to porch and opened stopcock. Drained ~ 1 gallon and poured over grains to filter.
Boiled ~ 2 gallons of fresh hosewater and poured 1 gallon at a time over grains.
Slow to sparge due to stopcock clogging.
Lifted infusion bag and flow increased dramatically.
Sparge water at end was fairly unsweet, so we stopped the process.


Put wort in boil kettle on porch and brought to a violent boil for ~ :15.
Added 1 oz Tettnang at beginning of :60
.5 oz Hallertau at :30
.5 oz Hallertau at :15
Shut off propane and covered to go indoors and prepare chiller.

Total boil time probably ~ :90

Cooled over :60 to ~ 80 iF

Racked to carboy and transported to fridge.
Shook the dickens out of it to aerate wort.

Cooled to 77 iF and pitched starter wort, liquid and slurry both.

Continuing to cool in fridge overnight with thermometer installed to monitor.

OG: 1.070

So what do you guys think? The starter had little activity which I was a little concerned about, but again, this is a different approach than my typical ale partial grain brews. Is this inactivity normal? The diacetyls gave me the clear notion that SOMETHING was going on, but no visible fermentation. Any thoughts? Is it likely that the yeast is still viable?

Thanks for all the great information I've mined from these forums over the 3 years I've been passively brewing! And thanks for checking out the new endeavor! I'm really excited to see how it turns out and looking forward to learning from this process of lagering to expand the recipe repertoire.

~William

 

[winterparkmg]

So it has been a week and two days with no airlock action, but there is a cake literally 3 inches thick on the bottom of my carboy. The temps have been money at 55 to 50. I started melting my freezer items, so had to turn it down a little.

I RDWHAHB'd the process with the fermentation concerns. I read and read and read more about lagering here on the forums, then I made the best decision thusfar: sanitize and utilize a hydrometer. SG went from 1.070 to 1.062 in a week. So there is activity. I am elated.

Tonight I used 1.25 lbs of a similar grainbill to make 2 L of starter wort, SG is somewhere around 1.042. Pitching the yeast when its nice and chilly, then letting it just sit. I'll rack off the beer and wash/harvest the yeast later for a buddy. I hope the crazy yeast ratio will mean a faster bottling of the "practice" beer and give me tons more of this WLP 820. Maybe I can convince my buddy to get into lagering to broaden his horizons.

Once again, the forums did me a great service by calming me down and giving me the knowledge and patience to just let the yeasties do their job!!!

 

[bob1852]

you joined in 2008 and didn't post until now? wow.

 

[winterparkmg]

Yeah, being in a Squadron, one of the first things you learn is to spend the first year observing, not sending out e-mails, because you are likely to get made fun of. I guess that premise ingrained itself upon me...

So the carboy is almost totally full. For the first week and a half, there was literally 3" of "stuff" on the bottom: grain paste, pellet hop chunks, and yeast. Now, there is only ~1" on the bottom and there is kreusen all the way up to the airlock! Steady conveyor belt of motion bringing chunks up to the top.

I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing this beer through and maybe getting into kegging at the same time.

 

[winterparkmg]

Still churning away. Came home today after MULTIPLE airlock blowoffs and put the temp sensor back in. 62! Cooled it way back down and now it's around 57. I hope the momentary excursion wasn't a problem. Last night I thiefed a little out and it was fermented down to 1.045. Looks like it's well on its way.

Tasted some off flavors in the hydrometer sample. I'll give it a few more weeks and a decent D rest to take care of the strange flavors, but this thing is just boiling away still!

 

[winterparkmg]

Onto the lagering phase! It has been in the lagering carboy for about two weeks now. I'm going to keg it and carb it now. Just let it sit and sneak a sip every once in awhile to see how it goes. I need to get this thing drunk before it's time to PCS to Italy, so I figured I'd go ahead and taste test the whole keg... If it isn't crystal clear, that's okay with me. I've never really made or had a see through beer yet, so doesn't bother me none.

Horrifying discovery today when I got home to put a few brews in the freezer... I'm OUT OF IPA!!! One bottle left. I drank my reserves fast fast fast.

Side note: Anyone want a taster bottle of a very soapy amber? It's gross. I'm gonna chuck them I think. Just too hard to drink. Maybe the lambic lovers could stomach it, but I can't.

~Wm