First lager mishaps; or, How Screwed Am I?

[wwhorton]

Ok, so I've brewed several ales (extract and partials) with a decent degree of success, but in order to truly justify my hobby in the eyes of SWMBO I have to essentially recreate Miller Lite. Never brewed a lager, and have no way of controlling temps using refrigeration, sadly. Because she's due in the beginning of June, and because I just haven't had the time to start when the seasonal weather (south-central MD) would cooperate, I decided it's now or never.

Also never brewed from my own recipe, so it's a number of firsts.

I fired up BeerSmith and started plugging in numbers for a extract-based light lager with a flaked corn adjunct. All went well, and I wound up with 5 gallons of wort at 68F, into which I pitched a pack of WY 2035.

Here's where the screw-ups begin. I'd forgotten to smack the pack until about an hour and a half prior to pitching. There was swelling, but not the crazy swelling I'm used to seeing from ale yeasts. Still, pitched it and went to bed. Next morning, bupkis, no movement, no krausen. That evening, slight krausen, no bubbles in the airlock, no change in gravity, nada.

At this point I should mention my cooling system. I purchased a mortar tub, which is about six inches deep, a foot and some change wide and two and a half feet long, filled it with water, stuck a box fan at one end and have been dropping ice in it morning and night. It's the most redneck swamp cooler I've seen.

Anyway, I was dismayed by the lack of activity but pleased that I was able to keep the temps around 60F. To be safe, I decided to order another pack of WY 2035 from my local store since I was already putting in an order for a bunch of stuff for an IPA. Two days later, I smacked the pack on the second yeast and waited. Naturally, I noticed some slight krausen and minor tremblings in the airlock. Temps were also hovering around 62F. At this point, I figured I may as well pitch rather than waste the yeast.

Tonight, the airlock is boppin' away merrily, there's a healthy layer of krausen on the top, and I can't keep the damn thing below 66F. I'm glad that there's some obvious activity, but I'm also worried that I'm going to wind up with a lot of esters in the final product.

Any advice? Should I just not sweat the temps? Should I run out and buy a mini-fridge and a hacksaw immediately?

 

[BigFloyd]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you're very unlikely to end up with the sort of clean taste that one expects from a light lager well brewed.

Bottom line, you need to pitch more yeast (twice that of a similar gravity ale) and keep the ferment around 50*F.

 

[madscientist451]

My lager setup is somewhat primitive, but it works. First of all I only make lagers when the nightime temperatures are going to be below 50 for at least a week or so. This keeps my basement chilly , usually about 50-55.
I have a 2' x 2' cardboard box I lined with pieces of 1" foam insulation board. The corners and seams are sealed with Gorilla Glue brand Duct tape. So I brew in the evening, the wort gets chilled overnight (outside) and I pitch in the AM, hopefully, at least 55 or below. Put the carboy into the cardboard/Styrofoam "chamber" and then add 1 liter or 2 liters bottles of frozen water. I can get the box 10 degrees below ambient or even colder depending on how many bottles I put in. I have a cheapo thermometer in the box and I check the temp morning and night to see if there is too much ice or not enough. Pretty crude, but it works good.
I've never used the WY 2035, I think your temp is a bit high for that yeast. Their website says 48-58F. If you rebrew, try to get it somewhere near the low 50's
I follow the lager schedule from Bruloshpher:

http://brulosophy.com/methods/lager-method/

 

[chisena]

Congratulations on your first steam beer. Next time, make a large starter first. Then, keep the temp lower than 60 in an bathtub. Changing out frozen water bottles as needed.

 

[MindenMan]

You may not be totally screwed, I mean when you are done it will still be beer. It may not be to the style you planned... I agree with the above posters; pitch a LOT of yeast and keep the temperature inside the fermenter below 60*F. Keep us posted.

 

[okbecker]

Not the most ideal situation for lager though an extended lagering period may help it out quite a bit. Lager 32 degrees for 4-6 weeks...may smooth it out and bring a bit closer to what u want...

 

[Magnus314]

you're good. You made a steam beer (like anchor steam).

It won't be miller lite, but probably much better

 

[BigFloyd]

It won't be miller lite, but probably much better

Most things are.

 

[solbes]

Agree with others. Also I think you want to temper your expectations on recreating an American Light Lager. Its both silly and frustrating that what we perceive to be a commodity type beer is also one of the most difficult to home brew. There's no room for off flavors to hide in a Pilsner, much less a light lager. It has to be fermented at the right temps, it has to have the right yeast pitch, it has to have the right water (if all grain). It even has to have the right grain specifications. Most of the pilsner malt we buy here in the US is really determined by the macro brew companies.

In short, what Macro Brewers create may or may not be perceived as high quality, but its actually damn hard to make the same beer with virtually no change over the decades. I am personally 0 for 2 in making a Pilsner style beer (Stella is what my wife wanted). I can make good Marzen's, Vienna's, Bock's, Dopplebock's. But I am struggling to get the light lagers right. I might ditch that all together and attempt to make a Pre-Prohibition lager next. These use a lot of 6 row barley, which I've never used. And they are hopped more.

 

[peterj]

I agree with the others in that your temps are too high to have a clean tasting lager. And by now the damage is done so there's no point in buying a minifridge now (for this beer at least). All of the off esters and such are produced in the lag phase and the first few days of very vigorous fermentation. And yes, you also need to pitch much more than 1 pack into 5 gallons of beer. You should have made a large starter or pitched about 3-4 packs (which would be crazy expensive so I would just make a starter). Or about 2 packs of dried lager yeast (W-34/70, S-23). Here are a couple of calculators you can use to determine how much yeast you need: http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html, http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/.

My advice to you would be to not use lager yeast unless you are able to hold your wort temp consistently at around 50F. Until then, you can try using a Kolsch yeast (WLP029, WY2565) or a steam beer yeast (WLP810, WY2112). Those have temperature ranges in ale territory but will give lagery characteristics. Or you can look up cream ale recipes. Fairly similar to American lagers.

I fired up BeerSmith and started plugging in numbers for a extract-based light lager with a flaked corn adjunct.

Nobody has mentioned it, but this also worries me. What was your recipe for this beer? You can't use flaked adjuncts if you are not doing a mash. They need to be converted with the enzymes from a base malt. If you steep them by themselves they will only contribute starch and will cause your beer to be hazy and starchy and possibly create stability issues in the bottle.

 

[JonM]

You can make lager-like ales with very clean yeasts like 1007. Try that instead of diving into lagers without temp control and without a gigantic starter.

 

[lowtones84]

Another option for next time is to use a recipe like Yooper's Fizzy Yellow Beer in the recipe section, which uses a neutral ale yeast. Fermented properly (but not as low as a lager should be), it's usually a hit with people who enjoy things like Miller, etc. It won't be exactly a lager, but the average beer drinker doesn't know the difference between an ale and a lager anyhow.

Edit: I see JonM just beat me to it.

 

[glick]

All great advise above. For my lagers I typically make a 1 gallon starter on a stir plate first, and pitch at 48 deg F. Lagers are a completely different ball game from ales, you can't treat them the same once the boil ends.

 

[wwhorton]

Thanks everyone for the feedback and advice. I've actually taken the advice re: steam beer. As the saying goes, there are no mistakes, just happy accidents, right? :fro:

I actually racked to secondary today and it doesn't look like a complete failure in the sense that it's a fermented alcoholic beverage that probably won't cause blindness and doesn't taste horrible. I tasted a smidge of a sample and it's definitely got a diacetyl thing going on but it's not horrible. I'm hoping that some additional fermentation time will take care of that. It's currently trundling along at a steady pace with a healthy krausen having reformed. I hit 1.011 from an OG of 1.030, and it's definitely still working, so I'm hoping that given a little more time the diacetyl will be taken care of and I'll only have whatever funky flavors are left to deal with.

WRT the adjunct, there is definitely a haze, but I don't know how much of that is a product of just having stirred up a ton of yeast and sediment moving between fermenters. Prior to transfer it was by no means clear, but it is cloudier now than it was, so I'm crossing fingers and hoping that most of that will settle out in time.

At any rate, I've learned some important lessons (don't mess with lagers unless ambient temps cooperate or I own a dedicated fridge, for one) and I might still wind up with a palatable...something so that it's not a total loss. Thanks again to everyone for the helpful advice!

 

[Magnus314]

If you have diacetyl happening, don't rack it. The extra yeast will clean up after themselves.

 

[wwhorton]

Here's a quick update for the sake of posterity. Having moved the beer into secondary I've been keeping an eye on it and making a few other beers. Out of curiosity since the beer's been clearing up a fair bit and doesn't seem to be doing much I went ahead and checked the gravity: 1.002.

While I was pulling the sample, I was struck by a distinctly, well, beer-like aroma. A bit difficult to describe, but pleasantly like a warm lager. I went ahead and took a hit for the cataracts, and sure enough it tastes--dare I say it--pretty damn good!

Didn't notice any off-flavors and the diacetyl's gone. It's very dry as you'd imagine given the gravity, with just the faintest suggestion of hoppy bitterness on the back end. Very crisp mouthfeel, almost astringent, and a hint of sourness in the nose. Gave it to the resident judge, and after making a face at my handing her a jar of cloudy yellowish liquid, she took a sip and actually said, "Huh, it kinda tastes like Miller Lite..." Which is true, albeit pretty flat at this point and not anywhere near as sweet.

So, having screwed up all along the way--the secondary is currently hovering around 72F--I've somehow still wound up with a thing that actually sort of tastes like what I was aiming for to begin with. I'm not sure if I can actually call it a lager at this point, but whatever. I've added some Super-Kleer and I plan to bottle on Sunday, then leave those to condition in the refrigerator for a few weeks.