My First lager seems too good?

[SLFcentralOH]

Hi all,

With 9 drinkable home brews under my belt I may be posting in the wrong forum but anyway.

I brewed my first lager 2 weeks ago and moved it over to secondary today. Primary fermentation seemed to go well with bubbles starting in the air lock in two days and continuing for over a week. My first surprise today was when I took a hydrometer sample and I could barely get the hydrometer to float.....coming at 1.005. I did not expect it to go that low for some reason. I was thinking 1.010 at best. Not that I'm complaining and I have had a couple of ales go down to 1.006 and 1.007, but this was a real shocker.

Then, as I suspect many of you do, I tasted the hydrometer sample. I could not believe what I was tasting. It was smooth and crisp and I was ready to fill a glass with my racking cane. I have tasted all my ales in the same fashion and didnt find them near as appealing. Some I even wondered if the beer was going to be drinkable (they turned out being fine after a month of bottle conditioning).

Yes, I know lagers are much cleaner tasting, but at only 2 weeks old and technically not even a lager yet?

It has been a few months since I had a lager so maybe that has something to do with it.

Anybody else experience this?

Details: Mashed @ 150F, 2 Wyeast 2124 smack packs into 2L starter for 24 hours (I know, not long enough), pitched and held @~53F for 12 days then up to 62F for 2 days, 1.050 OG - 1.005 FG

 

[SLFcentralOH]

So I guess you would call this a "bump" since there were no replies.

But also its an update.

I kegged and bottled the aforementioned Lager Monday and prematurely sampled both bottled and kegged versions tonight.

I started with the bottled version that was primed and had bottle conditioning yeast added to it. It has a strange aroma to it that I can only describe as "sweet" but it tastes very clean. This is a very different aroma then I have experienced from my ales and is mildly detectable in the flavor. Obviously not fully carbonated up yet but otherwise very smooth drinking.

Next is the 1.5 gallon kegged version sitting at 20 PSI @ 53F. The same above mentioned aroma and slight flavor is still there but at a slightly less aggressive level. Other wise the carbonation is better than the bottle conditioned and have to say its surprisingly enjoyable.

Any guesses as to what this aroma and flavor is? Its not a bad thing IMO, just something I haven't experienced

 

[madscientist451]

I just have two comments, #1 is that you shouldn't have to add additional yeast for bottle conditioning and #2 that you should check out the brulosopher website for tips on fermentation temperatures and process for lagers.
Congratulations to you for making a lager that is drinkable young.

 

[Kerrbrewer]

SLF,
Congrats on your first lager! Mine was just a few months ago. +1 on madscientists suggestion on the read. Would you say that the sweetness reminds you of corn on the cob? That's probably diacetyl. Check out the write up on brulosopher. You probably should have come up just a few more degrees for the d rest.

 

[Amadeo38]

Agree with the D-rest comment. Can't let lager fermentation go too long before bumping up the temperature temporarily. I'm guessing the sweet taste is like creamed corn - perhaps like that of Rolling Rock? The bottled one is probably sweeter because of the added priming sugar that hasn't been converted to co2 yet.

 

[pablosbrewing]

DMS is the cooked corn flavor, not diacetyl:
http://beersmith.com/blog/2012/04/10/dimethyl-sulfides-dms-in-home-brewed-beer/

Diacetyl has butter flavor - it's used in movie theater popcorn "butter"

 

[SLFcentralOH]

Just wanted to give an update.

I went out of town for a few days and before doing so I put the 1.5 gallon keg, regulator, and CO2 tank in the fridge and dropped the pressure down to 10 psi. This was after sitting at about 53F for 4 days @ 20 psi. It sat in the fridge for another 4 days while I was out of town.

After returning home and over the next week, SWMBO (who doesn't normally enjoy beer) and myself proceeded to empty that 1.5 gallons in about 5 days served at about 3 psi.

In other words it was that good. All the strange smells and flavors that it had previously were gone.

The bottled version has carbed up well. I did put about half a pack of Danstars' bottle and cask conditioning yeast in just in case the lager yeast were to sleepy to do anything. It was not quite as good as the kegged version but still enjoyable. I have a feeling that it will be even better with a few more weeks of conditioning.

The only downside I can mention is that I have a chill haze going on. Both the kegged and bottled versions are doing this. Not sure why. All of my Ales have turned out very clear after a month of bottle conditioning.

See the picture below for a comparison of my S.M.A.S.H ales that could meet the german beer purity law. Nothing but water, yeast, hops, and malt. Really, thats it, no wirfloc or anything else.

The one on the left is 5 months old in the bottle and was 9 lb of the cheapest 2-row brewers malt I could get my hands on with cascade hops and Notty. The one on the right was 3weeks old in the bottle and consisted of 8 lbs of the same malt as above with EKG hops and US-05. Both have a calculated ABV of 5.2%. In between these 2 brews I switched from batch sparging to fly sparging and seem to have got the process down as indicated by the increase in efficiency. I also reduced the heat on my boil between these brews and went with just enough heat to maintain a roiling boil.

 

[C-Rider]

Maybe it's just me, but when did you lager it and for how long at what temp?