Two friends caught the brewing bug from me -- but they are dreamin of the Pilsner

[ed_brews_now]

Two friends caught the brewing bug from me, but their ambitions are Pilsners. I think they are dreaming the crystal clear German stuff. They want me to help them do it.

Never done it before and I keep on telling them lagers are a pain in the ass. One does have a cool room in the cellar. But I told them after fermentation you have to do a crash at near 32 degrees. Then if it crashes too much and you are going to do bottle conditioning/carbonation (don't have the equipment for forced carbonation) you might have reintroduce yeast for the fermentation.

Fortunately there is a window of opportunity to do it. The temperatures are hover about 32 now. (though that may change in a matter of weeks.)

 

[nickharbour]

Maybe try to get them to brew a Kolsch. Not as technologically advanced and they may enjoy the end product just as much.

 

[passedpawn]

Just do the lager. Not a big deal. Fermentation temps are the critical part, 45 - 55F. Cold lagering is overrated (although nothing beats it for clarity).

 

[maltbarleyhops]

lagers are a breeze. ferment cool 45-55 deg f. whatever your yeast likes. lager in a beer fridge or any cold box at about 38 deg f.

heres my house pilzen recipe. its great!

http://hopville.com/recipe/395996/german-pilsner-pils-recipes/dont-spilzen-the-pilzen

 

[markg388]

use double the ammount of yeast that you would for an ale while you're at it...

 

[Homercidal]

Have someone pick up a used freezer on Craigslist and a temp controller. Problem solved.

And Lagers are not hard IF you follow ALL of the golden rules of homebrewing. But I think that recipe formulation is more critical, since any small change in the recipe will make a very noticeable change in the finished beer.

I just did my first Lager, an Oktoberfest, and am looking forward to making an American Lager, or European lager very soon. As soon as my old upright freezer finishes melting. I think it got ice built up in the walls, because it's been leaking water for 3 days and it's been unplugged and dry on the inside for those three days...

 

[kgraber]

I want to do a lager so badly right now. I've been scouring craiglist lately for a freezer.

 

[kpr121]

I am in the second week of cool fermenting my first lager. I have room in my kegerator to lager for a few months if need be, but I'd imagine that once it starts to warm up, that keg will quickly be on tap.

My plan for next winter is too do as many lagers as possible and let them sit until the summer. My somewhat insulated garage stays around 45-50 all winter long, perfect for lager yeast!

 

[ed_brews_now]

Is that extract in your recipe?
Or is that all grain?

lagers are a breeze. ferment cool 45-55 deg f. whatever your yeast likes. lager in a beer fridge or any cold box at about 38 deg f.

heres my house pilzen recipe. its great!

http://hopville.com/recipe/395996/german-pilsner-pils-recipes/dont-spilzen-the-pilzen

 

[ed_brews_now]

Do your rack to secondary?

lagers are a breeze. ferment cool 45-55 deg f. whatever your yeast likes. lager in a beer fridge or any cold box at about 38 deg f.

heres my house pilzen recipe. its great!

http://hopville.com/recipe/395996/german-pilsner-pils-recipes/dont-spilzen-the-pilzen

 

[ed_brews_now]

What do you think of this for lagering


http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/yrk/hsh/2237653429.html

 

[starrfish]

If no temp control look at steams or kolsch. lagering for the newb can be a problem. get the temp as cold as possible and look up "swamp cooling" I've done plenty of clean ales without lagering using dry yeast us-05. a buddy tried doing a stella clone w/o lagering equip using cool ambient temps and he dumped it...

he's picky and went back to ipa's.

lager yeast can be fussy with off flavors and i think thats what happened... more time in bottle cold may have helped.