Lagering - multiple questions - but what is it?

[flydrinksleep]

Hi all,

I've been searching to try to get my questions answered to no avail.

Lagering: I've got a batch now, a dark lager, that I started about 3 months ago, that's still bubbling - albeit ever so slightly now. Is that normal, it's in my basement at 50F? Airlock off-gas smells good, colors nice.

After about two weeks, the krausan fell back in and per Palmers book I racked into the secondary, but it's still going, meaning there's still sugars to fermenet presumably.

I guess my questions revolves around what exactly constitutes lagering? Whether it's just the cold only, or more bio chemical, the yeast and the cold? Ultimately, am I screwing this up?

Alright, thanks in advance, cheers

 

[passedpawn]

Both. Lagers use lager yeast, which have the unique quality of working well at lower temps than ale yeasts.

Even more uniquely, lager yeasts can metabolize some sugars that ale yeasts can't. while this might seem to explain why lagers are "crisper", the truth is that the complex sugars that can be only metabolized by lager yeasts aren't very prevalent in wort, so that is a bit of a myth. Maybe I shouldn't have brought it up, but meh thought I'd throw the chestnut out there for discussion.

I think lager yeasts are just very attenuative and don't produce much esters. Thus, very clean. Certainly, fermenting at very cold temps (with the requisite diacetyl rest) will result in a very clean beer.

Lager, as you might know, means to store. Lagered beers are typically stored for weeks, or months, at freezing temps. This can produce a very clear beer. I can't imagine how this can affect the flavor, but maybe it does. Don't know.

Getting back to your questions, you're not screwing anything up. Just let it go for at least 3 weeks. Do a d-rest at 60 for a couple of days, then cold-crash for at least 2 or 3 weeks. Rack off the yeast being careful not to transfer any of the trub and you'll have a great lager.

 

[flydrinksleep]

Thanks, yeah, while vastly different yeasts, white wines are sometimes made at colder temperatures, like 50s, supposedly certain flavors are preserved. So I understand the temperature requirement.

With lagering though, many recommend going nearly to freezing, I can only imagine yeast would stop activity at those temps, but maybe not. Maybe I'll try to cool mine off incrementally into the mid-30s and see.