Lager Advice

[berryman]

Interesting that you're doing the D-rest *after* racking instead of before. Is this intentional? In theory I suppose all of the yeast that will be doing the cleaning up should be in suspension still instead of being dropped out, but I've always (on the lagers I've done) done the D-rest before transferring. I'm not sure I've ever heard of anybody doing it post-transfer.

I had been thinking on this and if what I should do, I actually started letting the temp rise yesterday and was at 66 deg when did the transfer, I pulled a lot of trub up and into the secondary as I left the pickup on the Ss brew bucket pointing down from the beginning. I think there will be plenty of yeast left for clean-up and I can't believe it will go lower then 1.008 anyways. I guess I will see how this does and if not..........try something else.

[berryman]

Interesting that you're doing the D-rest *after* racking instead of before. Is this intentional?

Yes it was, I think I know why I had a couple problems with the last couple Lagers I tried and that was a few years ago, but made some good ones before that. 1 - wasn't pitching nowhere near the amount of yeast needed to start at that low temp and get a good fermentation. 2 - waiting too long to secondary after D-rest and then not getting enough purge and got some major oxidation. Maybe a C02 blast could have helped that, but I don't have that equipment. I was big on secondary's a few years ago with Ales (not so much now) when I had more limited brewing time and wanted to get more beers going. I would time it to the point when the primary fermentation was very close to being done and then secondary and would push the oxygen out and I could leave it set until ready to bottle and worked very well. What I am trying on this. Might not work as planned, but my idea to try this time around.

[Kealia]

Sounds like a plan to me. I'm just always curious WHY people do things along with WHAT they are doing.

Cheers.

[John Sand]

I'm interested in this too Berry. Maybe when it's warm enough not to freeze beer, we should exchange bottles of lager.

[berryman]

I'm interested in this too Berry. Maybe when it's warm enough not to freeze beer, we should exchange bottles of lager.

I like that idea John, but I will bet I will like yours better then you will like mine, unless you like Mic ultra, or Coors lite, what I am trying to do with this one. Mine might still freeze between here and Long Island in May

[John Sand]

:LOL:
I still drink those sometimes at parties or events.

[mashani]

Mine might still freeze between here and Long Island in May

That's OK, then he could just pour it through a colander into his glass, and it would be like drinking "bud ice".

[berryman]

Mine might still freeze between here and Long Island in May

That's OK, then he could just pour it through a colander into his glass, and it would be like drinking "bud ice".

Yuck, I don't like them ice beers at all
Been thinking today some more on this subject, what john is doing with a primary and doing a D-rest in it and a little more time back down at low temp and then into a keg on gas to Lager sounds like a good plan, should have no oxidation. I think that would be the way I would go if I kegged, but I bottle. I like the idea of conditioning time when the whole batch is together instead of in separate bottles and I think it conditions out better and faster. This is where I got most of my information when I first started using a secondary http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/fer ... fermentors and I have had good results when trying to push out more beer in a shorter time frame and had sometimes 3 secondaries and a primary going all the same time. Now I have more time to brew and when I want and by using better yeast management can still make a lot of beer in just one fermenter and no need to secondary anymore except for this one.

[John Sand]

That's interesting Berry.
I'm a bit worried about oxygen, as warming then cooling the bucket will draw in some air. But I don't have a convenient solution for it. I suspect that transfer to a carboy would absorb oxygen in the transfer. In the end I can't worry too much about it. I'll just be careful and make beer.

[berryman]

That's interesting Berry.
I'm a bit worried about oxygen, as warming then cooling the bucket will draw in some air.

I don't really see a problem with the way you are going about it.

I suspect that transfer to a carboy would absorb oxygen in the transfer.

And I think that was one of my problems, I waited for D-rest then secondary and nothing to purge because fermentation was mostly done. I am pretty sure that was the off flavors I was getting, yes was ok beer but not what I thought should be. I have done a secondary on many Ales and with no problem. Why I am trying this experiment on this. Will see if works and if not will just keep making my Ales anyways.

[BlackDuck]

Will see if works and if not will just keep making my Ales anyways.

Don't give up on lagers. They take a lot of fine tuning. Lagers can be frustrating. Because they are so clean, the simplest of mistakes or errors really show up. But that's also what makes them fun, at least for me. Because it forces you to really pay attention to recipe formation, cleaning, sanitization, etc etc. Ales can hide some minor mistakes, but not lagers.