your advice sort...Lagering

[PD]

I've now got my brew fridge working just dandy and at the moment its cooling a nice light colored beer for a few days before I put it into a corny.
I've had an All Grain kit for a Pilsner from one of our sponsors the Homebrew Company, for some time so I thought it was time to get it on the go.

It consists of a bag of pre crushed grains and 3 bags of unknown hops together with a couple of lager yeast packets.

Basic instructions are provided.

I've never done a lager before and would appreciate some advice from those with more experience.

It says ferment at 10C...( bloomin chilly to what I normally ferment at ) and then " lager for at least 4 weeks before serving. "

This brew is destined for a corny also.

so how do I proceed with it, after the ferment has finished ?

thanks in advance

 

[Tankboi]

Can't give much help myself but hopefully the bump will help a bit as I was planning on asking a similar question.

 

[anthonyUK]

The lagering time is temperature dependent so if you can get your fridge down to -2°c then you only need a few days. I'm not a corny user but I guess it would be ok to lager in one but you will get some more sediment dropping out.

 

[phettebs]

I ferment my lagers at about 9-10C. I've only every used liquid lager yeast so I make a huge starter. I chill the wort down below pitching temp and with the starter decanted and at fermenting temp, I pitch into the wort. I aerate it thoroughly with pure O2. I let mine ferment for 2-3 weeks and then take it out and let it warm up to around 17-18C or whatever my basement ambient temp is so I can do a D rest.

After that, I rack to a glass carboy and I chill it back down slowly to just above 0C and then let it lager for a min of 4 weeks. If it's a bigger beer, I'll let it go 2-3 months. I have also done it with a corny and then just racked to a clean corny after lagering. You will get a layer of yeast on the bottom after lagering so that's why I rack to a new corny.

That process has worked well for me but YMMV.

Baz

 

[PD]

thank you for the replies.

I didn't realise lagering took so long... I was hoping a couple of weeks at around 2C then raise the temps slowly over a further week.
hey ho....

 

[pittsy]

Yeah PD around 8 weeks from grain to bottle (keg) then another 8 weeks for conditioning (lagering will shorten conditioning time )

 

[Aleman]

thank you for the replies.

I didn't realise lagering took so long... I was hoping a couple of weeks at around 2C then raise the temps slowly over a further week.
hey ho....

The rule 'applied' in Plzen (and most other Czech breweries) is to lager for 1 week for every degree Plato of OG (1 Plato ~= 4 SG Points), so a 12 Plato Beer (1.048) would get 12 Weeks of lagering, at around 1-2C.


What has been found . . . and adapted from the Labbats continuous chill filtering process . . . is that if you can chill down to -2C then 1 day at -2C is the same as 1 Week at 0-1C. . . . Speeds it up somewhat . . . but lager brewing requires a considerable dose of patience.

 

[PD]

looks like a further brew fridge and temp controller required.......

 

[Cyclops]

I just crash chill it to just above freezing point and leave It for a month or so :)

 

[Cyclops]

thank you for the replies.

I didn't realise lagering took so long... I was hoping a couple of weeks at around 2C then raise the temps slowly over a further week.
hey ho....

The rule 'applied' in Plzen (and most other Czech breweries) is to lager for 1 week for every degree Plato of OG (1 Plato ~= 4 SG Points), so a 12 Plato Beer (1.048) would get 12 Weeks of lagering, at around 1-2C.


What has been found . . . and adapted from the Labbats continuous chill filtering process . . . is that if you can chill down to -2C then 1 day at -2C is the same as 1 Week at 0-1C. . . . Speeds it up somewhat . . . but lager brewing requires a considerable dose of patience.

Wont the water in the lager freeze if it is at -2C?

 

[morethanworts]

I'm reading this with interest, because despite gaining a brew fridge now, I don't want it tied up for bloomin' ever! I'm still planning to brew with the seasons so I may get away with some natural lagering in the shed if this winter is anything like the last.

I hope the lagering period is really worth it...

 

[phettebs]

This is why I brew relatively few lagers. I find ales so much more interesting and far less work than lagers!

 

[NickW]

I have a fridge I plan on lagering in... it's not temperature controlled But I was just planning on whacking the fridge down as low as it will go. Will this suffice?

 

[phettebs]

That's exactly what I do for lagering. I use my kegerator to ferment the lager at a controlled temp and then I just put the secondary into the fridge at its max setting.

 

[NickW]

Cheers mate. I'll take a gravity reading today to make sure it's finished fermenting.

I did actually dry hop it a few days back (with hop leaves), am I OK to leave these in the brew while it lagers? They are currently floating on top

 

[Aleman]

Wont the water in the lager freeze if it is at -2C?

No the alcohol in the lager prevents it freezing. Actually it is beneficial if it does just start to freeze as the formation of micro ice crystals cause the haze particles to clump together more readily, once it then thaws out these clumps precipitate (sink) more readily.

My process is 1 week at 1C, 2 weeks at -2C and 1 Week at 1C

 

[mattrickl06]

If you can spare the time it is definately worth doing the full lagering process, I generally do 4 weeks at 1-2 degrees whereby you will get a lot of the yeast dropped out but with just enough left for bottle conditioning

 

[phettebs]

I did actually dry hop it a few days back (with hop leaves), am I OK to leave these in the brew while it lagers? They are currently floating on top

It shouldn't hurt anything. I can't say that I've ever dry hopped a lager before but when I dry hop ales, I just throw the hops in a hop sack and drop it right in the keg. It stays there for the life of the keg which is several months for me. That has always worked fine and gives wonderful hop character to the beer.

 

[PD]

I think I'll postpone the Pilsner for a few months, I dont really want to commit my main brew fridge for that length of time, as I want to use it for temp control fermentaion of my ales.
I'll wait till it gets a bit cooller use the brew fridge for a couple of weeks then the brew can go into my spare fridge before being stood on the concrete garage floor for as long as it takes. ( Hopefull I will have the 2nd fridge temp controlled later as well.)

Think I'll bang a few more ales through before the cool weather comes.....

Thanks to all who have replied.

 

[Fil]

FYI im doing my first lager now its in week 2 of 0C lagering and ive missed out on at least 3 brewdays in the sun when ive been left alone for the day but the fridge is full!!! it took 3 weeks at 10C to drop to a stable gravity reading to my satisfaction.. perhaps i left it a bit long? and perhaps the starter should have been bigger?

next time i will plan my lager brews around going away or leave till winter and just let it go in the garage..