Lagering - next steps - advice requested

[BlackDuck]

RickBeer....I know it's to late for this batch, but here's a good read on a different approach to lagering; The Brulosophy Lager Method. I am going to give this a try on my current batch of Kealia's Lager Miser IPL. It's an interesting read at the least.

[monsteroyd]

Wow, now I know why I do ales.

Monty

[Crazy Climber]

FWIW. I only make lagers in the winter, but when I do, once I start the D-Rest, I leave it at the warm temperature (mid 60s) until the D is gone and also until it's fully fermented out. I then bottle it, and let it prime at room temp for 2 weeks. Then I lager in the bottles. I don't do anything in a secondary, and I don't lower the temps after some arbitrary # of days of D-Rest to let it finish fermenting cold, hoping that any remaining D goes away.

It works for me.

I haven't tried this approach, mashani, but I have read it elsewhere and think it's worth pursuing. In short, if you're going to lager the beer, what's the harm in doing it in the bottle, rather than a secondary. It will accomplish the same thing, and free up the fermentation equipment that much faster.

[swenocha]

FWIW, here's the process that EricG (of Dragoon and formerly of Mr.B) recommended to me, and that I've used for every lager I've done...


1) Brew as normal
2) After cooling and pitching, put in your fermenting fridge and set to lager temps
3) After 10-14 days, hydro check. If you're within a few points of estimated FG, pull out of fridge (or adjust temp controller) for diacetyl rest. At this point, you can transfer to a secondary if you have a vessel to do so (he recommended glass or SS only, and not another Mr. B keg, but others disagree with that recommendation).
4) After 2-3 days, put back at lager temps for another couple weeks (or more if you moved to secondary).
5) Bottle and leave at room temp for 2 weeks.
6) Cold condition for a few months.

[RickBeer]

The one thing you've got to love (or hate) about homebrewing is that for every process there are 1.6 different approaches per person, so if you ask 10 people for ideas you get 16 answers...

I'm at 61 today, going to reach 68 in the next 24 hours. I will hold that until 3 weeks, i.e. next Monday. That will give me a total of 7 or so days in the 60s. I'll take a taste of each and see if there is any diacetyl left. I'm then going to drop 10 degrees per 24 hours (i.e. 5 degrees every 12 hours) until I reach low 30s and then leave it for 3 or so days, then bottle. After a few weeks at room temp I will then put a dozen bottles in the fridge to sit for a while, trying them over time.

After I decide which one I like better (assuming I like either one), I'm going to brew that same beer with S-05 in the future and compare them and see if lagering was worth the effort to me. I don't care about beer being clear or not (more than cold crashing gets me), nor do I care about styles. If I like it, I drink it. So hopefully I will like one or both enough to brew the S-05 version and then decide how they compare and if any of them are good enough to repeat as compared to the other brews I make.

Thanks to everyone for their input.

[mashani]

Instead of S-05, if you can ferment in the 55-60ish range, then I would highly suggest Wyeast German Ale, or Wyeast Kolsch, or Nottingham (57-60) if you have to use a dry yeast. If in the mid 60s, then White Labs Kolsch yeast would be the best.

All of those will give you a much more "lager like" product then S-05. S-05 is clean, but it is not lager like.

[RickBeer]

I'm sticking with dry yeast at this point, so I could use Notty, I use that for my Porter. I normally do it at 65, what's the advantage of 57-60?

[mashani]

Nottingham at 57-59 is one of the most "lager like" ale yeasts there is, with the exception of the German Ale/Kolsch strains.

At warmer temps it will be more like using S-05, it will have some fruity esters. Even though you may not taste them as such they are there - which will the beer seem "less crisp", and more "rounded". Which is good for an ale, but maybe not what you are looking for if you want it crisp and lager like. It attenuates well, even at those temps. It flocs out better/faster then S-05, and leaves a nice clear beer.

You may not care, it just depends on how "lager like" you want it to be.

[RickBeer]

Check FG today and tasted. No change from a week ago on gravity reading, but more importantly the diacetyl is basically gone!

I started the drop in temp - 10 degrees per 24 hours (i.e. 5 degrees every 12 hours) until I reach low 30s and then leave it for 3 or so days, then bottle. After a few weeks at room temp I will then put a dozen bottles in the fridge to sit for a while, trying them over time.

Tasted good, not amazing, but we'll see.