Pressure Ferment vs Typical Cold Fermentations for Lagers

[blitzballer2201]

Hello,

If you have the capability to pressure ferment, would there ever be a reason to do a standard lager with dropping the temp down and doing a typical lager fermentation?

Seems like pressure fermenting can be done ALOT quicker and without the hassle of worrying about keeping the beer cold.

Is there something im missing why people are still cold fermenting for Lagers?

 

[dmtaylor]

My thought:

The only people who play around with pressure fermentation are the people who want to make things more complicated, while imagining that what they are doing is causing improvements, regardless of whether it really does.

Same goes for soooooo many other things. Water and low oxygen are topics that spring to mind.

Do any of these things really make things better for the brewer or for the beer? *shrug* Maybe. Maybe in some instances. Maybe not in others.

Sometimes the simplest process is also the cheapest, laziest, and still effective, or even the most effective.

I don't have the capability to pressure ferment. Nor do I care to. Somehow, I still occasionally make great beer.

I'm also the guy who makes "lagers" using Diamond, S-04, S-189, you name it, at room temperature or slightly below. Regardless of yeast or process... If it tastes like a lager, then it *IS* a lager. Mua ha ha ha ha.

To each his own.

 

[Red over White]

Pressure does bring things to the table that other formats can't. When all the details get sorted on ones equipment and process, it does allow you to bend traditional guidelines with the extra pressure lever.

 

[seilenos]

At each stage of:

Cleaning a keg
Purging
Cold crashing a bucket
Autosiphoning from bucket to keg

I think about pressure fermenting.

A few weeks ago I finally broke down and got a spunding valve and tossed an extra floating dip tube i had in a keg. I fermented Oktoberfast at room temp / 20 psi and served directly from it. No starter, single packet of 3470 sprinkled on top.

Came out amazing and just kicked today.

Not having to purge or transfer was so nice. So was not dealing with a starter. It really has me thinking of switching to 6 gallon kegs to ferment and serve from.

 

[Rippchen]

I only do pressure fermentation.

A few month ago I compared a lager fermented at 10 degrees in my fridge with a lager fermented at 23 degree under 1,5 bar pressure.

Pressure fermentation was only a few days faster.

Both beers came out pretty equal. The traditional lager tasted more green and the pressure fermented was ready to drink after fermentation ended. After two weeks of lagering in my keezer I let 5 persons try them side by side and they all preferred the pressure fermented.