Yeast Help For First Lagers -> Helles to Maibock

[json2001]

I would like to brew a maibock for may and spring time. It would be my first lager, but when I saw I needed like 5l of starter or 5 vials of yeast, I thought - "wait a sec...you're probably doing this wrong."

I listened to the old Jamil Show on brewing a maibock and he recommend brewing a helles around 1.048 OG and then racking directly onto the yeast cake. I have a couple questions about this:

1) Do I need to be extra careful not to get hops or excessive trub into my primary? I have a side pickup in my kettle and usually just whirlpool as best as I can before pumping through my counterflow. Should I use a hop bag?
2) I would have a hard time getting my beer to come out of my counterflow at 50degrees - especially as the weather warms up. Is it ok for my beer to come in warmer and then stick it in my fridge to chill to 50? Or would an immersion be a better option for this?

Thanks for the advice!

 

[tgmartin000]

I'm planning on doing the same thing. I'm brewing Jamil's munich helles tomorrow, except I'm using wlp 860 platinum munich helles yeast - the homebrew shop didn't have wlp830. lame.

Regardless, I'm going to ferment for a month, transfer, then pitch something else onto the cake. I don't think a hop bag would hurt. If you use leaf hops, this would help immensley in reducing trub.

As for your second question, Jamil always recommends chilling to 43 then pitching. Why not use your IC as a pre-chiller for your CFC?

I haven't decided what to pitch onto the cake, but I'm thinking a bock for the fall.

 

[json2001]

Very cool tgmartin! I think I'll try it out as well.

I don't have an IC. But after reading more aout jamil's recirculating whirlpool chiller, I might try that out - it makes a lot of sense.

It will be nice to have a helles and a maibock for the spring/summer.