My first lager.

[DonMagee]

I've been meaning to try this for awhile now. My friends have been begging me to do this and I have the equipment to control my fermentation temps.

I just don't know how to start. I'd like to do a oktoberfest style lager this weekend. I'm looking for any good all grain recipes to try or a good place to start.

I also have questions about lager yeast. First is the dry yeast any good? I have great success with dry ale yeasts like S-04 and S-05, is S-34/70 a good lager yeast compared to liquid?

Second, when using liquid yeast and making a starter, do you keep the starter at room temp or do you lower it to optimal fermentation temps?

My target day for brewing this is saturday which gives me just enough time to have it ready for late October or early November.

 

[CadillacAndy]

I'd probably start with the Oktoberfest from Brewing Classic Styles. If you can't track down the recipe, let me know and I'll post it for you.

I personally feel that dry lager yeast is much lower quality than the liquid. I use WLP833 for all my lagers. WLP830 is also an excellent choice.

When making a starter, fermenting at room temp is fine. I then usually cold crash the starter to get only the yeast in to the carboy.

Another trick I've had great success with is going from the kettle in to a carboy and then allowing the trub to settle, then racking from above in to a second carboy. This makes harvesting the yeast much cleaner and provides for a generally cleaner ferment in my experience.

 

[DonMagee]

Ok so I looked that recipe up and a couple others. How does this look?

5.5 Gallon Batch

Vienna 5lb,
Munich 5lb,
Dark Munich 1lb,
Caramunich II 12oz

152F mash

60 minute boil
1oz Tettnanger at 60
1oz at 20

Probably using WLP830 or 833 yeast with a 3L starter.


1.056 OG
1.015 FG
23 IBU
5.4%ABV
12 SRM
.4 IBU/OG

 

[CadillacAndy]

Ok so I looked that recipe up and a couple others. How does this look?

5.5 Gallon Batch

Vienna 5lb,
Munich 5lb,
Dark Munich 1lb,
Caramunich II 12oz

152F mash

60 minute boil
1oz Tettnanger at 60
1oz at 20

Probably using WLP830 or 833 yeast with a 3L starter.


1.056 OG
1.015 FG
23 IBU
5.4%ABV
12 SRM
.4 IBU/OG

I'd probably recommend getting some pilsner malt in there. Here's a recipe that I've brewed that has turned out very well.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Estimated FG: 1.013 SG
Estimated Color: 10.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 25.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.8 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
6 lbs 8.0 oz Pilsner (Weyermann) (1.7 SRM) Grain 2 55.3 %
2 lbs 10.0 oz Munich I (Weyermann) (7.1 SRM) Grain 3 22.3 %
2 lbs 4.0 oz Vienna Malt (Weyermann) (3.0 SRM) Grain 4 19.1 %
4.0 oz Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.1 %
2.0 oz Carafa III (Weyermann) (500.0 SRM) Grain 6 1.1 %
0.50 oz Magnum [12.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 18.7 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 8 -
1.00 oz Tettnang [4.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 9 7.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg German Bock Lager (White Labs #WLP833) [ Yeast 10 -

 

[DonMagee]

Is there a huge difference between pils and vienna? I wanted more malt and I figured the extra biscuit I got from vienna would give me that. I've used it as a base malt before without any issues. Plus you don't need a 90 minute boil with vienna.

 

[CadillacAndy]

Is there a huge difference between pils and vienna? I wanted more malt and I figured the extra biscuit I got from vienna would give me that. I've used it as a base malt before without any issues. Plus you don't need a 90 minute boil with vienna.

It will certainly still make beer, but I think it will be more to style with some pilsner malt in there. Cheers!

 

[pjj2ba]

I'm assuming your friends who are pushing you to make a lager are BMC drinkers, so I would shoot for something that is not so sweet. I'd cut the caramunich in half or more, particularly with the malts you have listed. If you had some pils in there, then maybe I'd go as high as 0.5 lbs of caramunich. I just made two batches that used only 0.25 lbs of caramunich II in a 5 gal batch (plus 3/5 pils and 2/5 vienna). Wort is a nice amber

 

[DonMagee]

I could cut out the vienna alltogether.

something like:

6lb pilsner
4lb munich
1lb dark munich
8-12oz caramunich II

The guys who are asking are not BMC drinkers. They are just tired of ales and want to push me to do something new.

 

[CadillacAndy]

I could cut out the vienna alltogether.

something like:

6lb pilsner
4lb munich
1lb dark munich
8-12oz caramunich II

The guys who are asking are not BMC drinkers. They are just tired of ales and want to push me to do something new.

I like that recipe. I think you'll be getting the malt complexity and toasty character that defines the style.

 

[Cyclman]

I love lagers, mine seemed to dissapear once they were ready (doppelbock, dunkel doppelbock).

Welcome to the lager addiction!

New Brewing Lager Beers is an awesome book.