Lager and fermentation temperature

[aamcle]

I know lager isn't the brew of choice for most members here but I'm sure the hive mind will know ...

I just started a lager cold crashing and as usual I fermented it at 10 - 12°C but here are a couple of links that suggest I wasted the effort of keeping it cool.

http://brulosophy.com/2016/02/08/fe...ager-yeast-saflager-3470-exbeeriment-results/

http://brulosophy.com/2015/06/22/fermentation-temperature-pt-3-lager-yeast-exbeeriment-results/

This is puzzling, they have quite a following and have done limited testing but as far as I know AHB's true lagers are brewed cold.

The big brewers do test brews, they have pilot plants and techy people employed to look for ways of reducing cost so if warm brewed lager is as good as cool brewed why aren't they using that process?

I suppose it could be scale, small works but many metric tons doesnt.

Atb. Aamcle

 

[SanPancho]

read the warm lager thread here- there's only about 3 lager yeasts that will handle high temps. the rest need to be kept cold or they taste like ass.

huge breweries often do high temp/high pressure ferments with their yeasts. the pressure suppresses esters and the beer comes out clean, even if it was fermented a bit warm. but then they do lager at cold temps which always help clean the beer, no matter what the ferm temp was.

 

[aamcle]

Interesting do you happen to know which yeasts?



Atb. Aamcle

 

[SanPancho]

i only use 3470 and 189, and i think wlp800 is supposed to be one as well. you can use cali common yeast too, if you can stand the taste. i think folks who can drink that stuff seem to like the mangrove jacks version as i recall.

 

[BobBailey]

I'm doing my first cold ferment with 34/70 just to compare with the ones I have fermented at ale temperatures. The warm fermented ones got a couple of weeks at 37F in the kegerator, but no real cold crash of lagering. All of them were tasty.

 

[SanPancho]

for me the big bonus to warm ferment is the speed and the lower amount of yeast to pitch. unless its black or brown even lagers get a big ass hop dump from me, so im not necessarily looking for the cleanest yeast around.

but if the beer is done fermenting by day 5 i can dry hop right away, let them sit for a week, fit in a good 5 day crash, and still have a beer ready in 3 weeks. in pressure vessels you could be done even sooner id imagine, crash and carb at same time.

I'm doing my first cold ferment with 34/70 just to compare with the ones I have fermented at ale temperatures. The warm fermented ones got a couple of weeks at 37F in the kegerator, but no real cold crash of lagering. All of them were tasty.

as you experienced, a few weeks of lagering at 37 will definitely be in improvement in the "clean" taste department. i still think a good crash/lagering is beneficial, but since all my stuff is hoppy its not nearly as important as if you did a more traditional lager. for the hoppy ones, a week or so at 33F seems to be enough.

 

[aamcle]

Bob.

I'm follow this thread so would you please add your findings to it when your cold fermented batch has been tasted.


Thanks. Aamcle

 

[waldoar15]

I brew mostly lagers and ferment cold with 34/70 and WLP 940. I'm in no hurry so I've never even tried to do any of the "fast lager" tricks.

 

[Smellyglove]

I've tried both, cold temps and hotter temps. If you want a really pure clean lager you need to do it cold, you can also use hotter with pressure. But hotter without pressure is messy and muddy on my palate.

 

[Nubiwan]

read the warm lager thread here- there's only about 3 lager yeasts that will handle high temps. the rest need to be kept cold or they taste like ass.

huge breweries often do high temp/high pressure ferments with their yeasts. the pressure suppresses esters and the beer comes out clean, even if it was fermented a bit warm. but then they do lager at cold temps which always help clean the beer, no matter what the ferm temp was.

Plenty of commercial and craft brewery examples of cold fermented lagers that simply taste like ass as well. Either that, or just their version of a BMC clone. No flavour, No body. Boring! If a lager doesnt project some malt flavour, then it might as well be coors light. Cold fermentation and 12 weeks lagering can still taste crappy.

While there are some real good examples of craft or locally brewed beer, my personal experience Is one of disappointment, when trying the plethora of different styles. While i am sure their process is more elaborate than anything i do, it doesn't automatically mean everything they brew will be a hit. Far from it in fact. Think most drinkers have 2 perhaps 3 styles they prefer to drink. Everything else is rather an experiment.

There are about 10 small breweries within a 10 mile radius of my house. Of the over 150 beers they all put out, one has at least 30-40 styles on shelves, i find myself really liking just a handful. Lagers are typically unexceptional BMC clones with little flavour or body. I assume by design to offer a "craft option" to a commercial consumer. Understandable, as a price and selling point, but a dissapointing cop out to the commecials.