Lagering

[farmskis]

Time to ask people that know! I am in the middle of setting up my new brew kitchen. I have never brewed any lagers and strictly done ales and controlled the temp with a brew belt when it was needed in the winter. In my new setup I want to set up for lagers as well as better control on my ales. I have a kegerator that I can fit 3 cornys and a small carboy in. I am trying to decide if a small chest freezer for fermentation will work. I need a little knowledge on how the lagering process works. Do you ferment then transfer to a corny and lager? Or lager in the same place you ferment? Basically I am trying to figure out if my fermentation freezer would be tied up for one brew the whole time it is lagering. I would like to transfer to the kegerator if it can lager in there at serving temps in the corny thus allowing me to brew and ferment another beer while lagering another. I would like to keep my equipment to the kegerator and the fermentation chest freezer as this is what I have room for in the brew room. Please let me know some of your lagering processes.

 

[m1k3]

I use 34/70 for my lagers now.

Last time I used one pack per 5 gallons of oxygenated wort at 1.055.

Then I repitch that left over yeast into 2 more lagers... Brewed 2or3 weeks apart. I have now done this three lager series 3 times.

I lager on tap in a keg. I have 6 taps so no rush.

I ferment ales and lagers both for about 2-3 weeks in a temp controlled fridge before kegging. No difference in my process between ales and lagers.

I ferment at the lowest reccomended ideal fermentation temperature for the strain for 2-3 days. Then I slowly ramp up to the maximum ideal temperature (again as stated by the manufacturer) until finished. I take the temperate with a thermowell so this is wort temperature not ambient.

I watch for krausen and flockulation to judge how quick to ramp the temps. I don't take a gravity reading until I keg (mostly to know the ABV).

 

[farmskis]

Thanks. It looks like lagering in the corny at serving temp, roughly 38, is OK. The more critical temp control is in the fermentation. I think with that info my plan is to ferment in a small chest freezer. Then rack to the corny and place in my kegerator to lager it.

 

[Cyclman]

I have a "beer cave" upright deep freezer, I keep it at 38. Lager my beers there. I have a separate chest freezer for fermentation, ales and lagers. I have 2 temp controllers on the chest freezer, one for cooling, one for heating (diacetyl rests as well as finishing fermentations). I love my setup, I can do 10G batches and they come out great.

 

[carloscede2]

I have a "beer cave" upright deep freezer, I keep it at 38. Lager my beers there. I have a separate chest freezer for fermentation, ales and lagers. I have 2 temp controllers on the chest freezer, one for cooling, one for heating (diacetyl rests as well as finishing fermentations). I love my setup, I can do 10G batches and they come out great.

Would you mind showing some pics? Im kind of working out a way to do lagers. I currently have a chest freezer and Im planning to buy a temp controller to use it as a fermantation chamber

 

[JimRausch]

Ok, I'm a lot more basic than these guys(and most others as well). I brew a series of 3 lagers in December each year. I've used others, but really like the WY Bavarian lager yeast. Start off with a 1.045ish for which I build up a 2qt. stepped up starter. Then use this for the successive brews which go from a 1.055 to a 1.065ish(or higher if I decide to do a doublebock instead of regular bock). Usually ferment at 48-55 for a week, then step it up to 60-65 for a DRest. Then after another week, I rack to a carboy and lager for 4-10 weeks. My temp. control is a swamp bucket filled with water in my basement which stays 58-63 in the winter. I add 1/2 gallon ice bottles when needed. The key- I check the temperature of the water bath 2-4 times daily. Lagering happens in the swamp bucket out in my garage which can get down to 30ish.
Simple, and it works very well for me.