It's come down to the lager...

[Chairman Cheyco]

I'm doing my first batch of lager and I have a quick question. How long can I expect to be in primary? I'm using wyeast 2124 and the primary is holding a steady 54F (12C). I don't want to be poking my nose in there too much, but I'm having a really hard time judging the krausen and airlock because the activity is so slow.
Help me obiwan...

 

[drengel]

usually a week. after that you risk picking up off-flavors from sitting on the trub, but its not that big of a worry. after you rack to the 2ndary, if the beers not fully fermented, it will continue until its done. make sure to check the hydrometer after racking though so you now whether its completed or not. i wouldny poke around with it right now, but if you can't resist the temptation, move the fermenter to a semi-sterile place without lots of dust or potentail contaminants, and spray a healthy dose of disinfectant around the room before you open it.

p.s. breakfast ale? whats that like?

 

[Kaiser]

Did you ever have strong fermentation activity?

One of the mistakes I made with my first lager was chilling it to 50F after I pitched the yeast. I experienced very slow and sluggish fermentation. After some reading I realized that you have to keep it around 70F until fermentation starts since the yeast just doesn't grow fast enough at 50F. Once fermentation starts you have to get it down to 50 within a day.

You also need more yeast and oxygen for lager fermentation. Now I'm always making starters and oxygenate my worts.

I racked my Märzen to the secondary after about 12 days. It was not completely done yet. That's why it is still slowly bubbling in the secondary. My Berchtesgadener Hell is going strong. Mainly because I was able to pitch the recommended 2 cups of yeast slurry due to the reuse of yeast.


Kai

 

[DeRoux's Broux]

from my lagering experience i'd say 12-15 days in primary. some suggest racking after you have achieved 90% attenuation. they say leaving some of the yeast in suspension during lagering helps with the final flavor, and carbonation later on.

sorry, i shouldn't say yeast in "suspension", but rather conditon "on" the yeast left over from racking :~)

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

I did have lots of activity and it was fully enkraused(?) as I started it a room temp.
It sounds like I'm on the right track, thanks for the input. It's been in there for about a week, so I'll wait a few more days and rack it. I'm still pretty new so it's nice to get a little reassurance.

The breakfast ale is actually just a Cooper's real ale kit, but I renamed it because I found a really cool sun for the label. I uh, also uh, wouldn't know anything about uh, having it uh, for uh, breakfast... ;/

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

...enkraused...

I like that...enkraused... Made a big-ass starter and just 2 hours later my beer is enkraused!

 

[DeRoux's Broux]

or.."dude, i got so enkraused last night......"

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

Is that better or worse than crunk?

 

[DeRoux's Broux]

it's gotta be better!

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

"Better" as in more or less trub-hanging drunk?

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

Is trub-hanging like blowing chum?

"Man, last night I was totally enkraused and wound up hanging trub all over my date!"

I still don't know if that's good or not...

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

This could go on forever... Good stuff though, definite new vernacular being generated.