I also applaud Poodie's post. It's great to hear from a judge, and we who enter comps need to understand that, yes, the judges are human, the judging is, by its very nature, somewhat subjective, and, let's face it, if you've been sampling beers all day, you're going to experience palate fatigue, even if it's not an IPA. How many stouts can you sample before you hit the wall?MadBrewer wrote:Poodie da man. Just ask Mr.Bill's Mom.
I was going say similar to Olly, these guys are trained to taste and pick up on what we can't or do not know about.
But since we got an old thread going, what is your lager and D-rest technique Dave? Dry Yeast or Liquid, what kind of starter, what size pitch...etc. Pitching warm for a lager and then crashing it down to lager temps is a good ticket to diacytel or however it's spelled.
So, on to MadBrewer's questions directed specifically at The Hat:
My lager technique is to set my lager fridge temp at around 52 or so well prior to brew day. I usually use White Labs yeast for my lagers, as I find them more specific to style than many dry yeasts. I use a 2 liter flask for my starter, using Light DME. I brew on Sundays, so I try to make the starter on Thursday night or Friday night at the latest. If I'm able, I cold crash the starter just as the krausen starts to fall. I decant as much as I can before pitching, and I try to get the wort chilled to as close to 60 degrees or under as I can. It isn't always easy, but in the fall and winter, I can usually manage.
For the D rest, I take a gravity reading after five days or so. If I'm around 75% progress in reaching my FG, I bring the beer out of the fridge and into the basement, where the temperature is usually in the mid-high 60s, depending on the season. After a week of that, I put it back in the lager fridge for the remainder of the fermentation process. I usually wait at least 3 weeks before bottling, but with lagers, I know it can take a little longer, so there's no hard and fast rule for me.
Right now, I'm waiting on an Oktoberfest that I brewed back in April, and the secondary has been in the fridge, with me lowering the temp by about 5 degrees, for about three months. It's been sitting at 32 degrees for a long time, now, and I'm almost ready to keg it. Probably either right before Labor Day, or right after. Since my daughter is getting married that weekend, I'm kind of up in the air. But I want it to have proper carbonation and keg conditioning so I can begin tapping it in October and enjoy all that malty goodness when the seasons change!
