Just made my first lager... a question or two.

[basilchef]

I made an altbier of sorts.
8 lbs pilsner malt
1 lbs light munich
.5 lbs Belgian aromatic

1 oz hellatuer* (sp) 60
.25 oz saaz 15
.25 hella 5

Two packs of dry yeast (two kinds)

Very simple, straight forward lager. First question, will a rest be necessary @68° for two days after fermentation is complete? How will the diact help my lager? Also i will be bottling. Do i need to bottle then lager? Or lager then bottle? I assume the later but have gotten some confusing feed back lately. Thanks for any tips, cheers.

 

[OldWorld]

It couldn't hurt. Also you will want to let ferment for at four weeks. My first lager with Safale s23 turned out great.

 

[MattHollingsworth]

Why are you pitching two kinds of yeasts?

For most lager yeasts, you can pitch around 46-48, ferment at 50, diacetyl rest at 60 for the final third of fermentation. I watch for the fermentation to slow down, when it's starting to finish, then warm it. For me, this is usually around 5-7 days in, but it depends on how your yeast performs, so take cues from your yeast. Could be later, could be earlier, just depends on how your yeast performs.

Altbier is an ale. Are you using lager yeast?

Lager then bottle. For a normal strength beer, lager a month or so as close to freezing as you can get without actually freezing the beer.

 

[basilchef]

Thanks for the input. I am using S-23 and S-34/70 for two reasons. First the lhbs only had one S-34/70 left and second i wanted to try a mixed yeast batch. I dont get the opportunity to pitch that many cells too often.

 

[basilchef]

I read more into altbier and your right. I have come across a few that are lagered but dont know what yeast they used. I dont follow recipes too often but being my first lager i did. Also, my reasoning for altbier was the name of the recipe "adam goes to Dusseldorf". Could this be a helles? Or not enough munich?

 

[solbes]

Altbiers are unique in that they use hybrid ale yeast and are hopped higher than most german beers. Looking at your hop schedule, I'd say you're a little light for an Alt. My Dusseldorf style came in around 40 IBU. Usually people use hybrid ale type yeasts that are fermented in between ale and lager temps (mid to upper 50's). I used 2565 Kolsch for mine, fermented at 57-58 and it turned out great.

Whatever you made, I bet it will be tasty. Give it 4-6 weeks at near freezing temps after your diacetyl rest. Then bottle w/ priming sugar and let sit at room temp for 3 weeks. Then store them as cool as you can, or even give the bottles additional fridge time. They will only get better.

 

[basilchef]

after some searching im getting that its altbier ingredients with lager yeast. its fermenting now around 51-53 deg. I plan to do a diacetyl rest in 12 days or so. then dropping to 35 and leaving it for 4 to 6 weeks, bottlling and storing inthe fridge for an additional two to three weeks. should be interesting. if anyone knows more specifically what this is please chime in. thanks cheers

 

[tre9er]

Do the D-rest before FG is reached. If you had a clear fermenter you could watch fermentation and get an idea when to D-rest, but otherwise taking samples is the best way to know.

 

[MattHollingsworth]

It's not really important that it's not an Alt. Sure it will be tasty. Loosely looks like an Amber lager, so could be Oktoberfest/Vienna/Marzen, but it's not all that important, IMHO.

Let us know how it turns out. Another nice thing about lagering, at least in my experience, is the beer will have a smaller amount of yeast in the bottom. For me, I just pour the whole beer and don't get any yeast into the glass. It's just a dusting there, but enough to carb the beer if you don't lager too long. That, and the beer can clear really nicely, looking almost like it's filtered.

Cheers!

 

[basilchef]

It's not really important that it's not an Alt. Sure it will be tasty. Loosely looks like an Amber lager, so could be Oktoberfest/Vienna/Marzen, but it's not all that important, IMHO.

Let us know how it turns out. Another nice thing about lagering, at least in my experience, is the beer will have a smaller amount of yeast in the bottom. For me, I just pour the whole beer and don't get any yeast into the glass. It's just a dusting there, but enough to carb the beer if you don't lager too long. That, and the beer can clear really nicely, looking almost like it's filtered.

Cheers!

Thanks. No vienna malt, so im thinking more along the lines of a marzen. It'll be good no doubt. Hit all my numbers and will be a nice quaffer. Thanks again.