first Lager

[ohad]

I'm planning on brewing my first lager soon.
I think I'm gonna make a Bock.

what I worry about is the fermentation schedule.
I've done some reading, and came up with the following schedule.
My aim is a good lager (not an amazing one...), without extra equipment purchases
please comment.

1. starter @15C 2 liters 48h
2. pitching @15C 20 liters 24h
3. primary @10C 1month
4. rest @room temp 24h (I don't remember what this is for, but I read it in several places)
5. Lagering @4C 1 month
6. priming (after bottling) @room temp 1 month

 

[RICLARK]

1)Primary until Fermentation is done
2)Rack to Secondary 3 weeks
3)Lager 4-6 weeks
4)Rest Bring to room temp so yeast will not be dorment and priming will start in bottles
5)Prime

 

[TexLaw]

Your temperatures look great, but you need to be careful about that pitching time. If you see yeast activity, you need to get the temperature down quickly. By "yeast activity," I do not mead airlock activity. I mean like you start to see a krausen build up. Others will tell you to cool your beer down to 10C before pitching, and they do that with great results.

The one month in the primary is fine, but I agree that you just need to leave it in the primary until it's done. That might be two weeks, or it might be five. Let the beer and your hydrometer tell you when it's done.

That room temperature rest is a diacetyl rest to ensure against a diacetyl flaw in your beer or to remedy one that's there.

I have found that lagers really need at least six weeks to lager properly. However, I've never primed one, so I don't know how to handle the carbonation.


TL

 

[Kaiser]

1. starter @15C 2 liters 48h
2. pitching @15C 20 liters 24h
3. primary @10C 1month
4. rest @room temp 24h (I don't remember what this is for, but I read it in several places)
5. Lagering @4C 1 month
6. priming (after bottling) @room temp 1 month

That looks great for a first lager. It's also the schedule that I have been proposing for first time lager brewers b/c its fairly foolproof. Don't worry about the diacetyl rest (point 4 on your list). 4 weeks in the primary give the beer enough "diacetyl rest".

Kai

 

[ohad]

The brew looks fine, after one week now.
two Qs:

1) how long, on average, should it take to finish fermentation?
OG=1.064
I used wyeast Bavarian Lager, and did a 2 gallon starter. I crashed cooled it and used just the slurry. it seemed less yeast mass then what I expected, relaying on ale experience.
Its now bubbling away for the last week at 10C. I know its hard to say. I just know that most ales with this pitching rate would have finished by now. so what should I expect with lager?
I'm afraid I'll have to rack it in another week, otherwise I won't have time for my next brew. will this be OK ?

2) due to problems with my refrigerator, it took me 24 hours after pitching to get the wort from 15C to 10C. is this a big issue? what flaws should I look for due to this fermentation?

thanks

 

[Kai]

1) Your hydrometer will tell you whether it's ready to rack. What is its SG?

2) This is probably not a problem. Was there significant visible yeast activity before the beer was cooled (eg was there krausen)?