TANSTAAFB
Well-Known Member
My father-in-law and I brew together & he wanted to try a lager (I'm pretty much an ale guy!!!), so on 5-8-10 we brewed a boston lager clone. Did not get a lot of air lock activity, but after scouring the threads, I overcame my NOOB fears and trusted the yeasty beasties...thank you all!!! I just took a hydrometer reading and we nailed our target gravity at 1.012:rockin:
My concern is that there is too much head space in a 6.5 gal primary bucket and the yeast have finished their job so no more C02 will be produced to protect the beer. We don't have a 5 gal carboy to rack to for a secondary--we have just used another bucket in the past. FIL is not convinced we need one or that oxidization is even a concern. We did a diacetyl rest for the last 48 hrs and now back to the fridge to get it back to the high 50's. Again, I have scoured the threads and still can't come to any satisfying conclusions. So...
1) How long can I leave a lager in the primary bucket once the lid has been removed, CO2 released, & fermentation is complete?
2) How big a problem is oxidization? Can't imagine there is any difference between racking off the trub into another bucket and leaving it in the primary at this point.
3) Is there a cheaper way to protect the beer from oxidization than buying a 5 gal carboy?
4) If I can't lager in a carboy, should I just bottle and let it condition there?
Any and all advice is appreciated...Y'all have helped maintain my sanity and have been a motherlode of info as we have set off on this grand brewing experiment!
My concern is that there is too much head space in a 6.5 gal primary bucket and the yeast have finished their job so no more C02 will be produced to protect the beer. We don't have a 5 gal carboy to rack to for a secondary--we have just used another bucket in the past. FIL is not convinced we need one or that oxidization is even a concern. We did a diacetyl rest for the last 48 hrs and now back to the fridge to get it back to the high 50's. Again, I have scoured the threads and still can't come to any satisfying conclusions. So...
1) How long can I leave a lager in the primary bucket once the lid has been removed, CO2 released, & fermentation is complete?
2) How big a problem is oxidization? Can't imagine there is any difference between racking off the trub into another bucket and leaving it in the primary at this point.
3) Is there a cheaper way to protect the beer from oxidization than buying a 5 gal carboy?
4) If I can't lager in a carboy, should I just bottle and let it condition there?
Any and all advice is appreciated...Y'all have helped maintain my sanity and have been a motherlode of info as we have set off on this grand brewing experiment!