Interested in brewing my 1st lager, but overwhelmed. Should I be?

[johnboy1313]

I'd like to try brewing a lager. I think I may have read a bit too much about it and now my head is spinning. I've only done a few all grain batches, all BIAB. Please help me weed out the unnecesary and add anything I may have missed.

I plan on brewing a 2.5 gallon batch for the first time.

What rests, if any, are an absolute when it comes to actually heating the mash? Protein rest? Beta sacch' rest? Alpha sacch' rest?

When I raise the temp from one mash to the next, and then to mashout, is it as easy as turning on the flame and bringing the whole pot up a few degrees?

I plan on using a 5 gallon carboy for primary and a 3 gallon carboy for secondary.

Is a yeast starter an absolute must for such a small batch? I've never done one, and like lagering, I have to admit I'm concerned that I'd screw it up.

So, I pitch my yeast, place the carboy in the ferm chamber at 65 degrees for a day, and turn down to the recommended temp on the yeast, right?

Does the diactyl rest come just before fermentation is complete, or after 2 weeks? I've read both. Is 62 degrees the proper temp for this?

After 2-3 days at 62 degrees, I rack into secondary, place back into the ferm chamber, and slowly lower the temp to 35 degrees. What do they mean by slowly? 5 degrees a day? Does it really matter?

Now I'm lagering. How long is necessary. I don't really want to tie up my ferm chamber for the entire spring to be honest. I have an upright freezer that came with our house when we bought it. The shelves cannot be removed so I store empty bottles in it. I have no problem buying another temp controller. Can I prime and bottle after the diactyl rest and lager in the bottle? After lagering is over would it hurt the beer to then raise the temp up to 65-70 degrees so it'll carbonate?

I don't know what else to ask. I really do appreciate any help you can offer. John

 

[dcp27]

a step or decotion mash isn't required for a lager. you can still do a simple single infusion

depending on the recipe, a starter is most likely necessary. lager pitching rate is roughly twice that of ales so it'd have to be pretty low gravity to not need one. you could use a dry yeast like fermentis W-34/70 and be all set tho since its a small batch

I wouldnt pitch that high. I'd bring it down to your fermentation temp (50ish) first

the diacetyl rest comes as fermentation is winding down, so around 7-14 days. you'll want to raise it up about 10F, so 62 would be ok. 1-2 days is usually sufficient

IIRC, yes 5F/day is about right for chilling down to lagering. im not sure how critical the speed is

lagering is usually 4-8 weeks. you can lager in the bottle if you'd prefer, but you'll want to let it carbonate first.

 

[JohnnyO]

I'll comment on your fermentation. Here is best practice:

You should do a starter. Because you're fermenting at lower temps, you need more yeast than usual.

Pitch at your fermentation temperature if you can. If you choose to not do a starter, some people choose to compensate by pitching at a higher temp to kickstart the yeast. Sure it works, but I'm sure you get some off flavors from that.

I will pitch at (or as close as I can get) to 50F. I ferment at 50F for 3-4 weeks. I check my readings at 3 weeks. If I'm close to FG, I will then do a diacetyl rest at 62-65F for 2-3 days. I then transfer to secondary and begin lagering. I start off at 50F and lower the temp 3-5 degrees every day or so until I reach 35-37F. I will lager it based upon the OG. If my OG is 1.04X, I will lager it at least 4 weeks. If my OG is 1.06X, I will lager it at least six weeks.

Hope that helps.

 

[johnboy1313]

Thanks to both of you

 

[acefaser]

I'm doing my first lager also. The advice above is spot on with what I have read. I used a german lager yeast and made a 5 liter starter. Recommended temp range is 50-55 so I pitched at 50 and held it there for about 14 days. I then raised the temp to 60 for 2 days. Started dropping the temp 1 deg celsius each day to 40, dropped the yeast and transfered to kegs to lager. Continued dropping the temp to 32 and is now siting at 32 for 5 more weeks. Its amazing how clear the beer is already and tasts great. Good luck with yours and keep us updated.

 

[johnboy1313]

I'm doing my first lager also. The advice above is spot on with what I have read. I used a german lager yeast and made a 5 liter starter. Recommended temp range is 50-55 so I pitched at 50 and held it there for about 14 days. I then raised the temp to 60 for 2 days. Started dropping the temp 1 deg celsius each day to 40, dropped the yeast and transfered to kegs to lager. Continued dropping the temp to 32 and is now siting at 32 for 5 more weeks. Its amazing how clear the beer is already and tasts great. Good luck with yours and keep us updated.

Will do, thanks for posting. I'm super excited.

 

[Unibrow]

Interesting. I just brewed my first lager last weekend. Using 1liter starter of WLP830, crashed for a week, decanted and stepped up to half liter active at pitching time. The OG was 1.050

It's been kinda stressful, as I'm relying on my stick on thermometer and constantly placing the bucket inside/outside of my FREEZING utility room before and after work. Luckily, I've been hovering between 47-54 degrees since pitching, and my fermentation has taken off great.

 

[Stauffbier]

Interesting. I just brewed my first lager last weekend. Using 1liter starter of WLP830, crashed for a week, decanted and stepped up to half liter active at pitching time. The OG was 1.050

It's been kinda stressful, as I'm relying on my stick on thermometer and constantly placing the bucket inside/outside of my FREEZING utility room before and after work. Luckily, I've been hovering between 47-54 degrees since pitching, and my fermentation has taken off great.

Make a swamp cooler for it and you won't have to move it anymore!

 

[Unibrow]

I can't regulate the swamp cooler temp that low - cause i'm gone from the house 9 hours a day

the utility room is much more efficient...but the swamp cooler is crucial for my ales

 

[Stauffbier]

I can't regulate the swamp cooler temp that low - cause i'm gone from the house 9 hours a day

the utility room is much more efficient...but the swamp cooler is crucial for my ales

Sorry, but I would have to say that you are wrong. I made my lager with a swamp cooler. I also work a long day. I would change out frozen water jugs every 12 hours. During initial fermentation it took a few jugs in the water to keep it at 50F. When I started lagering I literally burried the secondary with frozen jugs, water bottles, and blue ice. I was able to maintain a lager temp of 39F for 6 weeks this way... Here's a pic of the lagering. Don't laugh! It looks funny as hell, but it was very successful...

If you're going to make a "true" lager you're going to have to find a way to keep it at a consistant 35-40F... This method works!

 

[Unibrow]

Sorry, but I would have to say that you are wrong. I made my lager with a swamp cooler. I also work a long day. I would change out frozen water jugs every 12 hours. During initial fermentation it took a few jugs in the water to keep it at 50F. When I started lagering I literally burried the secondary with frozen jugs, water bottles, and blue ice. I was able to maintain a lager temp of 39F for 6 weeks this way... Here's a pic of the lagering. Don't laugh! It looks funny as hell, but it was very successful...

If you're going to make a "true" lager you're going to have to find a way to keep it at a consistant 35-40F... This method works!

Right, thanks. How could I not laugh at that? But seriously, I'm sure that would work fine...but you're in Texas and I'm in Cleveland where the daily temp has been around 30-40 degrees for the next few weeks. My utility room is almost identical to the outside temp because of it's lack of insulation and weak windows. So all I really have to do is wrap the bucket in a blanket and keep it outside all night (and while I'm at work) - whenever I check the bucket after waking (or home from work) I'm always in the sweet 50 degree zone.

But for the lagering phase, yes...I will do a deep freeze swamp cooler in my utility room. I wont even have to switch out frozen bottles cause the water is extremely cold to the touch. Ya dig?

 

[Stauffbier]

Here's to hoping we both get our hands on a cheap chest freezer in the future

 

[Unibrow]

Here's to hoping we both get our hands on a cheap chest freezer in the future

Amen brother

 

[Curtis2010]

In the words of Mr. Papazian: "relax...have a home brew".

I just tried lagering for the first time this past year. It is easy and it makes an amazing difference in the quality of the brew.

The very first batch I brewed was a German Pilsner -- it was absolutely awesome! The clarity and color were better than what I thought was possible in a homebrew environment. Liked it so much I brewed about 6 more Pilsner variations this past season.

Some of my brewing details: I typically brew 5 gallon partial-mash batches using infusion mashing. This past season I've used SafLager yeasts and have been very satisfied with them. I use kegs for primary and secondary and push the wort from primary to secondary using CO2. I think that racking to secondary sooner rather than later produces better results. I use a small top loading freezer with an external thermostat (I live in the tropics so this is about the only practical solution for me).

Don't sweat it...just chill out and lager! : )

 

[acefaser]

If you're going to make a "true" lager you're going to have to find a way to keep it at a consistant 35-40F... This method works!

ghetto lager. Love it!

 

[Stauffbier]

ghetto lager. Love it!

HAHA! This is how we do down on the Border!