Lagering times? Is there some science out there?

[d.carey]

Folks any science out there on length of lagering? I've read many posts where people recommend at least a month. Of course, when we wait longer to taste a brew we are likely to be biased, right? The experiment to be done seems obvious, no?

David C (who just happens to have a lager in his shed at 5 Deg C at the moment).

 

[d.carey]

Ah found some stuff will summarise later and add some links

 

[d.carey]

Mikyška, A., Štěrba, K., & Horák, T. (2023). How maturation time affects the chemical and sensory profile of pale lager beer. Kvasny prumysl, 69(4), 755-764.

Bamforth, C. (2023). Provocation: prolonged maturation of beer is of unproven benefit. Journal of the Institute of Brewing, 129(1), 3-14.

 

[Its 6pm somewhere]

Lagers will benifit from time when they're done right but it's like everything else homebrew, when it's right for you it's golden, everything from your malt bill, mash profile, yeast choice, fermentation temp will affect how long that takes if it works at all. Sometimes it's not about flavour but clarity and there are plenty of products that can help with that to avoid unnecessary lagering time. I've had more than one lager go down the drain, when they're right they're right but they're unforgiving if you mess up.
No matter how much we might try no two brews will be identical so there's no real applicable 'science' just best practices that suit your set up and just like the brews, none of those are identical, even if you have the same equipment