Lager ramblings

[Kblandfo]

Some ramblings and some questions which require your personal experience to answer;

Up to this point my brew partner and I have only been brewing using recipes calling for Ale yeats. In fact we have only used US 05 and 04. I have to say that my I have little experience drinking quality Lagers and at this point I find my pallet prefers Ales. I reach for Ales when I go shopping and order them at establishments. I also am interested in trying new things and being open to good brews.

We are looking at brewing up some Lagers and will be doing so in the cold
months of our Canadian winter. We don’t have any extra equipment for keeping our beer at a lagering temp, but we do have access to a cold basement. We will use that to our advantage in the winter months.

Does anyone else practice this “seasonal” brewing schedule?

We brew using extract and are looking into some good intro to lagering recipes. Anyone want to share? I am specifically looking for some recipe that made other brewers who are partial to Ales that made them really appreciate a good
lager. Maybe a beer that gave you the “ah ha” moment.

I know for me when I had my “ah ha” beer moment came. I’ve only been drinking beer for about 4 years and if it wasn’t for a brewery tour sample that I stumbled on a delicious IPA I would probably still be a vodka guy. So I’m hopping someone points me to a lager style that might get me to value lagers more.

I know that liking Ale is a very general comment but the point is, I feel safe ordering any thing that calls its self an Ale and I stay away from things called pilsner or lager.

Thanks in advance!

 

[podz]

We are looking at brewing up some Lagers and will be doing so in the cold
months of our Canadian winter. We don’t have any extra equipment for keeping our beer at a lagering temp, but we do have access to a cold basement. We will use that to our advantage in the winter months.

Does anyone else practice this “seasonal” brewing schedule?

I know that liking Ale is a very general comment but the point is, I feel safe ordering any thing that calls its self an Ale and I stay away from things called pilsner or lager.

Sure, I practice seasonal brewing schedule in my basement.

Basically, ale is top fermenting yeast and lager is bottom fermenting yeast.

Almost all of the German bocks are lager, for example doppelbock, maibock (helles), etc. As are a lot of Munich beers such as märzen (oktoberfest), muenchener lager, etc.

Examples of ale: hefeweizen, weissbier, kölsch, alt...


Maibock from a brewpub in Germany was the oh-hoh moment for me. One of my favorite beers ever.

 

[Weezy]

Lager yeasts can lead to very clean tasting beers. I'd recommend trying some lager yeast on one of your favorite ale recipes, so you can tell the difference. Don't hate lagers just because you hate Bud Lite.

 

[masskrug]

I used WLP 810 for the only lager I made. Worked great and you can ferment a little warmer.
http://www.whitelabs.com/yeast/wlp810-san-francisco-lager-yeast

Instructions (Extract)

Add 6.000 gal water to the kettle, bringing pre-boil volume to 6.000 gal.
Bring the wort to a boil and hold for 60.000 min.
Raise water to boil and then remove from heat. Stir in 6.600 lb Briess LME - Pilsen Light, 1.000 lb Briess DME - Sparkling Amber, .
Put 0.500 oz Hersbrucker into boil for 60.000 min.
Put 0.500 oz Hallertau into boil for 60.000 min.
Put 0.500 oz Hallertau into boil for 30.000 min.
Put 0.500 oz Hersbrucker into boil for 30.000 min.
Put 1.000 oz Hersbrucker into boil for 5.000 min.
Stop boiling the wort.
You should have 5.250 gal wort post-boil. You anticipate losing 0.000 tsp to trub and chiller loss. The final volume in the primary is 5.250 gal.
Cool wort and pitch WLP810 - San Francisco Lager Yeast Lager yeast, to the primary.
Let ferment until FG is 1.017. ~4 weeks

ABV 5%
IBU 21
SRM 4

 

[Kblandfo]

Thanks for the replys and suggestions. Im looking into each of them!