Lager question

[Gunfighter04]

Pretty simple light lager recipe, and my first all grain. Used WL840 lager yeast that had a 2 day starter. OG was 1.052 and I hit it on the mark, pretty happy about that. Took a reading at the 1 week point and it was 1.032, then again this evening at the 2 week point it's 1.022, final is supposed to be 1.012. Seems to be a slow steady fermentation. Temp has been a very steady 52 in my basement sitting in a tub of water.

Should I bring it up to room temp ~68 for the dia rest at this point or should I let it go further at 52? Just based on the math I'm at 75% at this point, assuming I get full attenuation.

 

[FensterBos]

Lagering takes a significant longer time to ferment than at ale temperatures. I would keep taking hydrometer readings once every three days to see if the fermentation has stalled. But if the SG continues to drop then don't touch it.

RDWHAHB

 

[osagedr]

Pretty simple light lager recipe, and my first all grain. Used WL840 lager yeast that had a 2 day starter. OG was 1.052 and I hit it on the mark, pretty happy about that. Took a reading at the 1 week point and it was 1.032, then again this evening at the 2 week point it's 1.022, final is supposed to be 1.012. Seems to be a slow steady fermentation. Temp has been a very steady 52 in my basement sitting in a tub of water.

Should I bring it up to room temp ~68 for the dia rest at this point or should I let it go further at 52? Just based on the math I'm at 75% at this point, assuming I get full attenuation.

You won't hurt anything by starting your d-rest now and you might help it get fully attenuated.

Two days isn't very long for a lager starter if you made your starter at fermentation temps. You may have underpitched and have a stuck fermentation.

 

[Gunfighter04]

Starter was at room temp, and was probably about 3 times the volume of the vial. I don't have a stir plate so it was pretty easy to decant after it sat overnight.

I've got a split level basement, so I think I'm going to bring it up in temp to about 60 for a day and check it again.

 

[Airborneguy]

ALL of my beers get a 3 week primary. With lagers, I do the rest in the last three days of that 3 weeks. Your beer sounds like it is progressing fine, just give it a few more days.

 

[osagedr]

ALL of my beers get a 3 week primary. With lagers, I do the rest in the last three days of that 3 weeks. Your beer sounds like it is progressing fine, just give it a few more days.

That's interesting, I always thought d-rest was to take place nearing the end of fermentation (6 or 8 gravity points above target FG) but definitely while fermentation is still active. You are implying that it can take place regardless of whether fermentation is active or not.

 

[Airborneguy]

I know that what I do seems totally against the grain, but it has always worked for me. The way I look at it, the yeast is always active on some level, and being that lager yeasts work much slower anyway, after 3 weeks, they still have enough energy left to give me a good diacetyl rest.

 

[ThePearsonFam]

I always d-rest near the end of my primary time (usually do it ~ 2 weeks into fermentation)... There's enough yeast there to act on the remaining sugars if you raise the temp ~5 degrees. At least that seems to be true for me too.

 

[osagedr]

That's really good to know; I've been paranoid about missing the d-rest window. Sounds like it's not as big a deal as I thought.

 

[PT Ray]

Pfft! As fermentation slows I just start bumping the temp up to try and keep it going. No real schedule. I'll max it out to about 60 or 62 degrees.

 

[Gunfighter04]

It's at 61 now still getting a few bubbles out of the airlock. I'll take a SG reading tomorrow night and if it's at FG I'll rack it to the secondary for lagering.

Follow on question. The recipe was 7lbs of 2-row, 1lb flaked rice and 1lb of flaked maize (eriktlupus recipe from this site). I know it's green, but I like to taste it along the way so I can notice how it changes. At this point it's got a hint of corn on the tail end. Does the Corn enzyme's get converted later in the fermentation? I'm not complaining, it tastes pretty darn good at this point, it's just a question I had in my head

 

[PT Ray]

Corn is going to taste like corn. To me it's what makes an American adjunct lager. I like rice but it just has a different character. It works well to lighten the body and leaves a crisp finish for a light beer. But I find it cloying if used with a little bit of a sweeter finish.