Some Noob Lagering Questions

[handp]

Just started brewing....(read a hell of a lot of books and online research before we started but I have a few, probably basic questions.)

First, our process so far. We started off making an AG Bohemian Pilsner for our first brew (smart right?)

We had trouble getting the wort to cool down (15 gallon kettle over a jet burner), even though we used a giant wort chiller with the lines running through ice water. For some reason, it seemed to get stuck at 96 degrees for about 30 minutes. In desperation, I stirred the wort and suddenly the temperature began dropping quickly....thoughts on why that is?


We pitched 6 packs of BrewFerm Lager dry yeast after making it into a 4000mL starter. Actually ended up pitching 3.8L of starter with the wort at 82 degrees.

We poured off 6 gallons of wort into each of our 6.5 gallon carboys and put them into our cooler which is temp controlled at 64 degrees. Four days passed and no activity....fifth day, the airlocks are bubbling away.We're currently on day 6. From what I've read this is normal for lager?

Diacetly rest...when is best to do it and how? Do we pull the carboys out and let them come to room temperate for a couple days? (read that somewhere on here)

We plan on racking to kegs...after the rest, can we go ahead and filter it before we fill the kegs or should the filtering wait until after the lagering ends?

We're planning to do a keg to keg transfer with a 2 stage filtration system with 5 micron and .65 micron filters.

Last question Isinglass, we have it...when is it best to add it?


Sorry for all the noob questions....I just can't seem to find any concrete answers to these. I'm getting the sense that brewing is more art...but I tend to be more of a by the numbers type.

 

[twistr25]

You redistributed the warmer wort on the bottom of the pot to the top where it could heat exchange with the air, not to mention other parts of the IC.

Yes they can have a longer lag period before getting started. Don't know the numbers offhand, but always possible you slightly underpitched, just took a little extra to catch up.

Best to guess when it is around to 75% to FG, if you can step up your temp control to 70, that might be better.

Not 100% sure on the filtration part, but if it involves aeration, I'd say don't do it. Better off carefully racking it over to the kegs.

I would think you can add the Isinglass to the keg during the lager phase, but not really sure on that one.

 

[BigFloyd]

Well, you pitched a lager at 82*F and fermented it at 64*F (was that beer temp or air?) with a yeast that's supposed to ferment in the 50's. I'm afraid that's way too warm and it's hard to say what the end result is going to taste like. Unfortunately, I doubt that it's going to taste clean and "lager-like". Ideally, you would have cooled the wort down to about 50*F before pitching, fermented around 53-54*F and then brought it up at the end to 62*F a few days for a d-rest.

Don't worry about doing a d-rest now. You're already above the temp at which they're normally done for a lager.

Filtering is a risky proposition unless you do it in such a way that keeps any air from being mixed in with the already-fermented beer. Most home brewers don't ever do it. There are techniques many of us use (whirlfloc, cold crashing, etc.) to make very clear beer that involve no filtering at all. I suggest that you skip the attempt at filtering this batch.

Finally, you should not make a starter with dry yeast. You can end up with less cells than you started with. You simply rehydrate in sterilized warm tap water, adjust the temp to that of the wort and pitch.

 

[handp]

Crap...didn't notice the typo till you pointed it out...we actually pitched at 62 degrees and are fermenting right now at 54.

 

[BigFloyd]

Crap...didn't notice the typo till you pointed it out...we actually pitched at 62 degrees and are fermenting right now at 54.

Darn glad to hear that. I was afraid that you were going to be really disappointed with a lager at 82/64.

After about 8-9 days, it ought to be getting ready to bring back up to 62*F for a few days of d-rest. Snag a hydro reading to make sure it's gotten to about 80-85% attenuated before doing so.

How low will your fermenter chamber go? After the d-rest, if you can crash it down to 35-36*F and leave it there 5-7 days, that will really help clear the beer and make filtering unnecessary. After the crash, be careful moving the carboys so you don't stir anything back into suspension. Transfer it cold into the kegs, purge the air out with CO2 and then store it cold for 6-8 weeks.

 

[handp]

We're looking into utilizing some MatureX and using a cold filter plate system to speed up our turnaround.

Our chamber is a converted chest freezer..so we can go pretty low.

One question about the OG. Our refractometer was a bit difficult to read...no sure what the problem is, might be inexperience at play..but it's almost as if it had 0 reading. Ended up using the hydrometer just before it went in to the fermenter.

What is a typical good OG reading supposed to look like?
And what is a good reading after primary?

I keep reading 80-85% attenuation...but what are the numbers typically?

 

[BigFloyd]

The OG depends on how much malt/grain you used which ended up in the wort as dissolved sugars. It varies greatly by recipe. A "middle of the road" number will be roughly around 1.050-1.055.

FG is going to depend on many variables as well, but a 1.050 beer without a bunch of unfermentables in it will often finish within 5 points of 1.013 or so. Again, that's a very rough ballpark figure.

Until you get the basics down well, I'd hold off on trying advanced stuff like filtering. The cold crash and later lagering will clear the beer rather nicely.