First Batch - Lager and cold fermenting temps.

[chronicsmoke]

Hello all,

I just started my first batch ever, and all grain India Pale Lager. Got it into the car boy with a few nooby mistakes, but otherwise pretty good (from a first timer's perspective)

Got a little worried when there wasn't any action, but yesterday (two days later) its really moving and the bubbler is constant.

I'm hooked, Last night I started a Black IPA (that looks and smeels really good!) because I was having a hard time waiting for 6 weeks for the Lager to finish,

Now enough rambling and to my Question,

I have the IPL in my cold cellar (~17 degrees C) for primary (2 weeks), but the recipe says to move to secondary 'cold' (4weeks). My parents business have a few huge walk in coolers, should I take it over there for the secondary phase? Plan is to leave it in the primary fermenter but just change locations to change the temperature.

 

[kombat]

What yeast did you use for this batch? Did you make a starter? If so, how big? Are you employing any temperature control at all, or just relying on the ambient temperature to keep the beer cool? If you used an actual lager yeast, 17° is generally considerably too warm.

To answer your question, I would not transport the beer just to lager it for 4 weeks. I would give it 2-3 weeks to finish, then bottle/keg, give it sufficient time to carb up in the bottles, THEN lager them for 4-6 weeks by putting the bottles in the fridge and leaving them undisturbed. But if you're fermenting with a lager yeast at such warm temperatures, I suspect you're going to have some off-flavours that will not be cured by any amount of lagering.

 

[chronicsmoke]

Hey Kombat, I'm in Cornwall, Ontario.

i used W-34/70 SafLager

I didn't make a starter (one of my noob mistakes), What temperature should I have the primary going at? I thought I read about 15 degrees C, which as the weather gets colder, It could be a little cooler than 17 degrees in the cellar but I'll confirm after work today.

I'm going to keg the beer, should I lager the beer in the keg? I think there is room for two 20L kegs, I have a 20L of Beau's la Formidable on tap and a 20L of steam whistle that needs to be used up soon also so I have somewhat limited space.

 

[chronicsmoke]

Cold cellar is at 13.5 degrees, 17-18 in the basement right now

 

[kombat]

W-34/70 SafLager is a dry yeast, so I would not make a starter with it (starters are not recommended for dry yeasts). I would, however, rehydrate it according to the manufacturer's instructions, and pitch 2 packets (lagers require twice as much yeast as ales). That's all hindsight, but for next time, something to keep in mind. The recommended temperature range for that yeast is 12 - 15° C, and you'll find you get a "cleaner" beer by fermenting toward the cooler end.

If it were me, I would ferment it at 12° C on the nose for 2 full weeks, then warm it up to 18° C over a period of 4 days, then keg it and lager it at 0 - 2° C for another 2 weeks on 12 - 14 psi of CO2 before even tasting it. Again, most of that is hindsight, but something for next time. Lagers are more complicated, demanding, and sensitive than ales, so you may notice some prominent esters in your beer (more fruitiness, probably some green apple from the acetaldehyde or slick butteriness from diacetyl).

If you're going to do lagers, I would strongly recommend you cobble together a fermentation chamber rather than just relying on the ambient temperature of your basement.

 

[chronicsmoke]

Thanks Kombat, I appreciate the info.

It was my first order from OBK so I really didn't know what I was getting myself into when I selected the lager over the ale.

I think I'll probably stick with ales from here on out or until I accumulate the proper equipment. I'll post back here in a month or so when it gets finished up whether it be negative or positive.