Need help understanding recipe

[steinim]

View attachment 704988View attachment 704988

According to the recipe under fermentation I should age for 20 days at 16°C after second fermentation. In the fermentation bucket before bottling? That doesn't make sense to me.

What I would usually do after two weeks of fermentation is to use a new bucket, add sugar, bottle and carbonate at 21°C for two weeks. then age at 4°C for 2 weeks.

What do you think?

 

[VikeMan]

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But if you're asking if you need to do a secondary, the answer is, in most cases, no, if the secondary consists of only the beer and no added ingredients.

 

[steinim]

 

[steinim]

Thanks for the reply. Is the image/attachment visible in my previous reply now?

 

[VikeMan]

Ah, Ok. This is a lager. The 14 days at 10C is the bulk of the fermentation. The 4 days at 16C is a diacetyl rest, to produce and cleanup any remaining potential diacetyl (a fairly common step for lagers).

The "Age for 20 days at 16C" is a little confusing. It could mean the lagering (cold storage) period, but if so, they botched the temperature. Lagering is done around 4C or lower. Or they could mean bottle and carbonate for 20 days, in which case the temperature makes a little more sense, but not completely.

Unless you have some specialized equipment to prevent suck back of O2 into the fermenter during lagering, you are probably looking at lagering in the bottle. So, you'd bottle the beer after the diacetyl rest and allow it to carbonate around 21 (or higher). After it's carbonated, refrigerate the bottles for a few weeks to lager (which will help proteins and polyphenols settle out).

Also, the 14 days before beginning the diacetyl rest is sort of arbitrary. You want to ramp up to the diacetyl rest when attenuation is finished or nearly finished.

 

[steinim]

Thanks @VikeMan. Your answer makes perfect sense. The recipe not so much. I'll bottle after the diacetyl rest. Maybe with a cold crash first. Carbonation at 21 °C + and lager for a couple of weeks around 4°C, if I can wait ;-)

Thanks alot!