Lager question

[Bluejaye]

Editorial comment: I'd post this on Mr. Beer's site if I had any confidence I'd be able to find the thread again. <sigh> Anyway...

History: For the past 8 months I've been doing the Mr. Beer extract brews for ales, and the 3+4 method. Been playing around with dry hopping, flameout hop additons, 7 minute boils, etc. And steeped my first grains last go round. None of that really is important to the question that I'm about to ask, but thought I'd share. (oh look, an emoticon, how novel). With their last sale, and my recent purchase of a mini-fridge and Johnson Control, I picked up a couple true lagers.

Question: So my question is: Is the 3 weeks in the fermentor still valid for a lager, or does that only apply to ale yeast? Yes, I have a hydrometer, but I certainly don't want to be drawing precious samples at 2 weeks if it's going to take 5. I just need a ballpark guess, the yeast is going to be Saflager S-23.

Any other tips/tricks I should know about brewing a true lager? Thanks.

[BlackDuck]

Are you using extract or will you be mashing any grains, and if so, what grains?

[Bluejaye]

They are just extracts. These 3 recipes in particular if it helps:

https://www.mrbeer.com/product-exec/pro ... der_Export
https://www.mrbeer.com/product-exec/pro ... oheme_NEW_
https://www.mrbeer.com/product-exec/pro ... ormulated_

But how would the answer change? Well, you said mash, but would the answer change if I steeped some carapils? Is your question hinting at the OG as part of the answer?

[Brewbirds]

I haven't done any lagers, why am I replying then you ask?

Just wanted to see how your pipeline is filled out.

JoeChiante (boy I hope he comes over here) had mentioned doing one the other day and he said it took something like 11 weeks. That is a long time to tie up a fermenter.

The folks in the know will give you good info though.

[Bluejaye]

I haven't done any lagers, why am I replying then you ask?

Just wanted to see how your pipeline is filled out.

That's actually in part what motivated me to ask the question, to figure out my timing of brews. The good part, is I won't need the mini-fridge to ferment for much longer, with Summer coming to an end relatively soon. My basement in Winter stays nice around 68, so I can just do my ales like I did last Winter/Spring, sitting on a shelf. But now that I have the mini-fridge, I'm kind of excited to try a lager.

[BlackDuck]

I've done one lager, but it was AG. It came out awesome. If I remember, I fermented for 3.5 weeks at 50F. I think 3 weeks in the LBK is sufficient, then 2 weeks at room temp to carb them up, then put them all in the fridge to lager for the rest of their life.

The one thing I'm unsure about is if you need to do a D-rest (diacetyl rest) since it's an extract kit. A D-rest is simply bringing it out of the cool fermenter to room temperature for 3 to 5 days immediately after the primary fermentation is finished. This can be 3-7 days after the yeast was pitched. This warmer temp will cause the yeast to drive off any diacetyl in the beer. Diacetyl causes a buttery and/or butterscotch off flavor. By doing the D-rest, it will do away with that. Hopefully someone that has done a lager from extract will be able to chime in on this.

[Bluejaye]

Thanks for the info. I'll start the hydrometer readings at 3 weeks, then. That was mostly what I wanted to know, hate wasting beer to samples.

I'm going to assume doing a D-rest wouldn't hurt, even if it wasn't required for an extract. Guess I'll find out. Though as much as I love butter, having a hint of that might not be a bad thing, since I'm not obsessed with anything being an award winning strict representation of any particular style, I just want it to taste delicious (to me).

[philm00x]

The diacetyl rest will be a good thing. It'll allow the beer to attenuate completely, and of course give the beer a chance to clean it up so it doesn't taste buttery. The pilsner I did was from extract using LME. I took gravity samples after 1 week, 2 weeks, and then 3 weeks. At 3 weeks, it had attenuated to 3/4 of the expected FG, so then I pulled it out for D-rest for 3 or 4 days at room temp. When the beer reached final gravity, I poured my priming sugar into bottles, bottled the beer, and let it sit out for 2 weeks at room temp to carbonate, then into the fridge at 35*F to lager for the rest of its days.

[haerbob3]

your best friend in brewing lagers is time. I let mine sit in primary for 3 weeks then go to secondary till it falls clear, about a month , keg and carb.

[haerbob3]

your best friend in brewing lagers is time. I let mine sit in primary for 3 weeks then go to secondary till it falls clear, about a month , keg and carb.

[philm00x]

[temporary thread hijack]BOB! Glad to see you made it over here![/temporary thread hijack]

Lagers are the ultimate test in patience because it definitely takes a lot longer to ferment.

[Brewbirds]

If you are worried about wasting samples you might want to look into getting a refractometer, they only need a drop or two. We got a good one (ADE Advanced Optics) on Amazon and it has made a great impact on our brew days. Do a google search and read up about them because quality matters, there are a lot of bad ones out there.