My first lager brewday

[bierhunter]

Ok I did my first lager and might have made a few mistakes. I read everything about lagering and decided even though most everyone says its ok to ferment my starter at room temperature I did a starter at 55 degrees for a couple of days (used mr.malty's calculator and used 2 wyeast packs and a 3 liter starter) and basically kept the yeast at around the same temperature all the way through. The problem was that I used a clone kit from Austin Homebrew and based my calculations on their estimated og of 1.051. I ended up getting 1.032 giving me a very low alcohol content and a very over pitched batch as far as yeast goes. That part might be ok as it is a lager, but when I plug in 1.032 to Mr. Malty it says I only need one yeast pack in a 3 liter starter. Where I think I went wrong is I ordered the kit pre-milled and I brew in a bag. I have my grain mill set to mill fine as I don't have to worry about stuck sparges and I get respectable efficiency that way, and the pre-milled was probably too coarse. I should have checked my og earlier and adjusted, so that is something I can take into future batches. I know better too but laziness got the better of me. I was also doing back to back 2.5 gallon batches and combining them as I only have a stove and 3 gallons is the max I can do right now.
Anyways, the alcohol level is looking like it will be around 3.1%. I don't mind if it tastes ok. We'll see I guess. I'm expecting a good fermentation, although my starter may not have been finished. It started at 1.038 and was at around 1.014 but I figured the yeast were active and healthy and would be ok to pitch rather than having them finish the starter and laying there dormant. Of course that's just my thought process and not necessarily correct. As I know there is much experience on this board any comments would be welcome.

 

[schristian619]

1.051 vs 1.032 is a big difference. Maybe they messed up when bagging the grains and left some out? I did this myself recently on a hefe recipe and didn't notice until I took SG. Regardless, it should still be a drinkable beer, just more of a session beer than planned. I'm no lager expert, having just brewed my first this past weekend, but I wouldn't think the over pitching would affect it too much.

 

[bierhunter]

no i weighed the grains and they were right, but now you have me thinking. That's only 50% efficiency, and I have never been below 72%. The malt was German pilsner, that wouldn't make any difference would it? I normally use Canadian 2 row pale. Other than the coarser milling I don't know what else would cause that.

 

[schristian619]

using German pils shouldn't affect anything. I use it regularly. I've used Austin Homebrews crush before and didn't have an issue with it, although now I use my barley crusher. I have never used the brew in a bag technique although you say you typically get over 72% eff with it, so it doesn't sound like your mash was the issue. Maybe someone else can chime in with a some ideas. But in the meantime, enjoy your session lager, should be tasty