First Lager

[Brett3rThanU]

This weekend I'm doing my first lager with WLP833 yeast and need some guidance. The guy at the homebrew shop told me to create my starter as I normally do with an ale, which I did, however he also told me to pitch my yeast at normal ale temperatures and wait till fermentation starts, then crank down the temp to the yeast's optimum range (48-55F). With ales I've always pitched at fermentation temp, so what temp should I pitch at? Also, with lagers do I still follow the 1-2-3 rule (1 week primary, 2 week secondary, 3 week bottle)? What temps for the secondary as well? Thanks.

 

[smizak]

If you can, chill it to at least your fermentation temp, maybe a degree or two lower. A lot of yeast flavor compounds are produced during the reproduction phase, and they will be much more prevalent if they reproduce warm. Also, if you have time, decant and feed that starter again. You ideally want to pitch at least twice as much yeast for a lager, especially if you pitch cold.

My fermentation schedule is usually around 52F for four days or until the krausen is just starting to drop, ramp up to 56 for two days, ramp up to 60F for two days, then after that I let go up to 68F for the diacetyl rest. After stable hydro reading and diacetyl taste test, crash the yeast out to 35F and then bottle. After carbed, lager in the bottle. No secondary. Yep, I'm sure Greg Noonan is rolling in his grave.

 

[ayoungrad]

You should read posts on here about lagers. I have not done one yet but will be doing one next month. I've been doing a lot of reading though. Here is what I came up with.

There is debate about pitching temps - many suggest pitching at ferm temps. Others say as you mention (but your airlock solution will likely be sucked into your fermenter). I plan to pitch at ferm temps or w/i 5-10 degrees.

According to what I've read, it's not 1-2-3. It 1-2 (depending on SG - until 2/3-3/4 way to FG), diacetyl rest, then either secondary or start to lager depending on who you trust. Lagering is 3-6 weeks. Then bottle (if you bottle). Some add more yeast at bottling, some don't. I may try a shorter lager period but that's because I'm completely impatient.

 

[smizak]

To me, lagering is done when I can read a newspaper through the bottle when it's 34F. My last lager took a month before that happened.

 

[ayoungrad]

I have read about bottle lagering. It sounded like that was an option but not the preferred option. But have you had good success with it?

When you say crash the yeast out to 35, do you mean lagering or is that only a short rest?

 

[pjj2ba]

If you can chill directly to fermentation temperature I would go that route. I think often the pitch warmer, then cool, is to compensate for underpitching, AND for those with warmer tap water who would have a harder time getting the wort to proper lager fermentation temperatures prior to placing in some sort of fermentation chiller.

If you pitch warm, you will need a diacetyl rest. If you pitch cold, there is a good chance you won't need a diacetyl rest

 

[smizak]

I have read about bottle lagering. It sounded like that was an option but not the preferred option. But have you had good success with it?

When you say crash the yeast out to 35, do you mean lagering or is that only a short rest?

I recently won a gold medal in the Light Lager category in one of the largest homebrew comps on the east coast, that was a bottle conditioned, bottled lagered Dortmunder Export.

By crashing, I mean a short, maybe couple day span before bottling, so I don't have a large amount of sediment in the bottles, just enough to carb. Not entirely necessary, just my preference.

 

[Cranapple]

There seems to be a lot of ways of doing it. The Homebrew Wiki site has a great writeup callee Fermenting Lagers. It's by far the best explanation I have seen yet! I was reading post after post, reading and re-reading Palmer/Papazian, etc. and I was still confused as to whether lagering = secondary, what temp to pitch, what temp to prime, etc.

I feel like that article has everything you need.