lagering question.

[Inkdrop]

I am in the middle of my first lager ever. I brewed a Mock recipe I came across for a Yuengling Lager. I fermented at 50° until 1.01 SG. I pulled to room temperature for the d rest. D rest took a week. Placed back in freezer and dropped temperature by 2° per day. I am currently at 40°, then it hit me. I never racked to the secondary. I thought I remembered reading that I was supposed to leave it on the lees because it needed the yeast for the lagering process. Now I am second guessing myself. I do not want any off flavors. It tastes delicious right now so I do not want to ruin it.

So, do I need to rack it off the lees before lagering it?

Also, what is the best temp to lager it at? It is 5% ABV so it should be able to go down to 27° without freezing, so should it be layered at 28? 30? 32? 34?

 

[killian]

At this point you have most likely fully fermented the beer if it's sitting at 1.010. I would pull it off the yeast and lager at 32 deg.

 

[SpeedYellow]

Sure, you should probably rack it before lagering, but it's not so important if you do so during the d-rest or once you've hit lagering temps. Rack it now, next week, whatever. RDWHAHB.

 

[Cyclman]

At 40, you're fine, that's a great bottle conditioning temp. Rack it off, and drop it ten degrees, let it sit for a month and a half or more. Hope it comes out super clean and delicious, I brew my lager in a month.

 

[Inkdrop]

I read on one of the other threads that the longer you can stand to lager it, the better it is. Is this true? Why is that so? What is layering actually doing to it?

 

[BigFloyd]

I read on one of the other threads that the longer you can stand to lager it, the better it is. Is this true?

Up to a point, yes. I like to lager medium gravity (1.050-1.070) stuff for about 6-8 weeks in the keg before moving it to the keezer to gas up (another 2 weeks).

Why is that so? What is layering actually doing to it?

From Bruakaiser - cold stabilization (lagering) : the low temperature causes haze forming proteins and polyphenols come out of solution and drop out of suspension. There is also a mellowing of flavors and some formation of esters happening. The latter becomes only significant after more than 12 weeks [Narziss 2005]