Ok, strange thread title, but now that you're here....
My wonderfull, beautiful, awesome SWMBO bought me a 20 gallon brewpot for Christmas. So I wanted to do a little experement.
The back-story: I was at my LHBS about a year ago and they have a keggerator with 2 of their kit beers on tap at all times as a selling point. This time they had a Pennsylvania lager on tap that was very tasty and amazingly clean. I asked a couple questions and ended up buying the kit (turned out great BTW.) The thing that really stuck with me from the conversation was this, him:"we do the whole thing at room temps" Me:"but everyone says you can't get a clean lager without major temp control/refrigeration" Him:"That's what they say, have you ever tried it?"
In the interum, I have done several lagers and a steam beer or two. My lagers have turned out great and been very well recieved, bu tI have often wondered just how much of a difference that "cold lagering" makes. Specifically, if I didn't have the setup that I do, could I still make great lagers? and how would they change? We have a temp controlled wine cellar that stays at 50*F that I use for primary fermentation, and I have a dorm fridge that was my first keggerator that I use for a lagering chamber now. The thing is, it will only lager 1 carboy and I am going to be making 10 gallon batches. This presents an opportunity!
The experiment: I brewed an 11 gallon batch, split equally into 2 x 6 gallon carboys. both pitched with 450ml yeast slurry from the same starter of saflager s-23. One carboy will follow my normal lagering procedure, we will call it "SPROCKET-Frogger Lager-Hibernation." the other will go through primary in a swamp cooler in a 68*F house, and "lager" at room temps (68*F), we will call it "SPROCKET-Frogger Larger" (the SPROCKET name derives from a recently deceased family pet. Clearly amphibious.) The determination to be made is, can a homebrewer without much space or a spare fridge make a "lager" (in flavor profile), or is tight, low temp lagering a must?
For anyone interested, I will post updates here whenever an "action" is required on either beer. My intention is to have each beer run a parallel timeline with temperature being the only variable. I will keg and forcecarb each and tap on day 1 of the 2011 NHL Playoffs. At that time I will post detailed, comparative tasting notes from at least 4 well seasoned beer drinkers.
My wonderfull, beautiful, awesome SWMBO bought me a 20 gallon brewpot for Christmas. So I wanted to do a little experement.
The back-story: I was at my LHBS about a year ago and they have a keggerator with 2 of their kit beers on tap at all times as a selling point. This time they had a Pennsylvania lager on tap that was very tasty and amazingly clean. I asked a couple questions and ended up buying the kit (turned out great BTW.) The thing that really stuck with me from the conversation was this, him:"we do the whole thing at room temps" Me:"but everyone says you can't get a clean lager without major temp control/refrigeration" Him:"That's what they say, have you ever tried it?"
In the interum, I have done several lagers and a steam beer or two. My lagers have turned out great and been very well recieved, bu tI have often wondered just how much of a difference that "cold lagering" makes. Specifically, if I didn't have the setup that I do, could I still make great lagers? and how would they change? We have a temp controlled wine cellar that stays at 50*F that I use for primary fermentation, and I have a dorm fridge that was my first keggerator that I use for a lagering chamber now. The thing is, it will only lager 1 carboy and I am going to be making 10 gallon batches. This presents an opportunity!
The experiment: I brewed an 11 gallon batch, split equally into 2 x 6 gallon carboys. both pitched with 450ml yeast slurry from the same starter of saflager s-23. One carboy will follow my normal lagering procedure, we will call it "SPROCKET-Frogger Lager-Hibernation." the other will go through primary in a swamp cooler in a 68*F house, and "lager" at room temps (68*F), we will call it "SPROCKET-Frogger Larger" (the SPROCKET name derives from a recently deceased family pet. Clearly amphibious.) The determination to be made is, can a homebrewer without much space or a spare fridge make a "lager" (in flavor profile), or is tight, low temp lagering a must?
For anyone interested, I will post updates here whenever an "action" is required on either beer. My intention is to have each beer run a parallel timeline with temperature being the only variable. I will keg and forcecarb each and tap on day 1 of the 2011 NHL Playoffs. At that time I will post detailed, comparative tasting notes from at least 4 well seasoned beer drinkers.
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