RedBarnBrewery
Member
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2020
- Messages
- 18
- Reaction score
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Hello all.
New to the forum, first post. Been about 15 years since I participated in any forum, apologies if I'm out of touch...
Been home brewing over 13 years now. Started in the kitchen with extract, moved to all grain with a brew-in-a-bag system.
A few months ago, brewed my first lager. Brew day went well. Fermentation seemed to go well, at 55°F. Checked gravity and tasted a sample after about a week. Proceeded to warm up the batch to about 72°F for a diacetyl rest. Let it set for 2 days. Kegged it and tasted it again. Not bad. Lagered at 34°F for about 3 weeks. Served it and it tasted like butter. Was terrible. Left it on tap for about 2 weeks hoping it would change. It did not. Ended up dumping it down the drain.
Brewed an Oktoberfest a few weeks ago. Brew day went well. Fermented at 53°F for 10 days. Tasted a sample and it was good, tasted malty and no butter. Increased temp to 57° for 4 days. Increased again to 65°F for 2 days. Cold crashed for 3 days and kegged it. Took a sample and tasted it. It was terrible. Had no flavor whatsoever, except for butter again. Had an experienced home brewer friend taste it, he detected no butter, but detected sourness. Either way it's terrible. It's currently laggering, hoping it changes.
Long story short, I need some advice for lager fermentation. I'm 0 for 2 currently.
Right now I have a batch of Helles Bock fermenting. It was brewed on a Saturday afternoon. Pitched a 32 oz starter at 60° F, with the chest freezer set to 50°F. Bubbles in the airlock started about 24 hours later (Sunday). I'm typing this on a Tuesday evening, so it's been fermenting about 3 solid days. I need to know what to do next as I don't want to ruin this batch.
Any advice is appreciated. And yes, I will search the forum posts for other threads on lager fermentation... (15 years ago senior forum members would routinely chastise anyone for not searching, hoping that's mellowed out a bit).
Thanks in advance.
New to the forum, first post. Been about 15 years since I participated in any forum, apologies if I'm out of touch...
Been home brewing over 13 years now. Started in the kitchen with extract, moved to all grain with a brew-in-a-bag system.
A few months ago, brewed my first lager. Brew day went well. Fermentation seemed to go well, at 55°F. Checked gravity and tasted a sample after about a week. Proceeded to warm up the batch to about 72°F for a diacetyl rest. Let it set for 2 days. Kegged it and tasted it again. Not bad. Lagered at 34°F for about 3 weeks. Served it and it tasted like butter. Was terrible. Left it on tap for about 2 weeks hoping it would change. It did not. Ended up dumping it down the drain.
Brewed an Oktoberfest a few weeks ago. Brew day went well. Fermented at 53°F for 10 days. Tasted a sample and it was good, tasted malty and no butter. Increased temp to 57° for 4 days. Increased again to 65°F for 2 days. Cold crashed for 3 days and kegged it. Took a sample and tasted it. It was terrible. Had no flavor whatsoever, except for butter again. Had an experienced home brewer friend taste it, he detected no butter, but detected sourness. Either way it's terrible. It's currently laggering, hoping it changes.
Long story short, I need some advice for lager fermentation. I'm 0 for 2 currently.
Right now I have a batch of Helles Bock fermenting. It was brewed on a Saturday afternoon. Pitched a 32 oz starter at 60° F, with the chest freezer set to 50°F. Bubbles in the airlock started about 24 hours later (Sunday). I'm typing this on a Tuesday evening, so it's been fermenting about 3 solid days. I need to know what to do next as I don't want to ruin this batch.
Any advice is appreciated. And yes, I will search the forum posts for other threads on lager fermentation... (15 years ago senior forum members would routinely chastise anyone for not searching, hoping that's mellowed out a bit).
Thanks in advance.