First Time Lager

I can't speak to a true lager, but I did my first (faux) lager recently, a Schwarzbier using 34/70 in the low 60s, and was really happy with the results. Cheers and good luck!

 

My next lager that I will be brewing in a month or so is a Tmavý Ležák (Czech Dark Lager). This will be my fourth time brewing this batch!

For lagers in general there are various lager fermentation profiles you could follow but a simple ferment of 50 – 55 degrees F over 14 days ‘works’ for me. Some folks like to conduct a diacetyl rest at the end but for the many lagers I have brewed (70-ish) I have never done a diacetyl rest and all of those beers turned out fine (no perceptible diacetyl).

Cheers!

 

So I have only done two, but am planning my third. I used to stay away from lager like the plague, but then had a couple darker variation and was never the same. I am a dark beer guy in general, and did not know darker lagers were a thing. I have done two Bocks and love that style along with Vienna Lagers, which will be my next one I want to do along with a barrel aged Eis bock.

I fermented mine at 52 degrees, but after a few days I let it slow rise to 56-58. I felt that my first one was a little "harsh" on the edges, but this second one seems smooth and malty. Not sure what I did different.

 

Pitch a lot of yeast... more than you think. You basically can’t overpitch but it’s very easy to underpitch and that leads to so many issues with lager ferments.

How do you oxygenate?

How quickly can you cool wort to lager pitching temps?

 

I suggest you brew whatever style you prefer. There is not much difference in brewing any of those styles you listed. You need to ferment cool and conduct a cold secondary (i.e., lagering process) for any of the styles you listed.

Cheers!

 

I have brewed numerous lagers (far prefer them to ales) and, in terms of resulting flavor, have found my fermentation "sweet spot" to be 48 F. The key, as Wasatchback mentioned above is to pitch LOTS of yeast. If you don't, fermentation (at 48 F) could take as long as three weeks. Otherwise, it should take about two weeks. It is also good to keep it on the yeast for a week after final gravity has been reached. This allows the yeast to settle out naturally, which thereby helps reduce diacetyl and other undesirable flavors. This then means that no diacetyl rest is required. When reducing the temperature to lagering temperature (just above freezing), let the temperature drop gradually about a degree or two per 12 hours (don't cold crash it) until you reach about 40 F or just under, as cold crash can shock the yeast and produce undesirable flavors.When you reach 40 F, the yeast will have settled out, and you can then cold crash it.

I oxygenate my lagers with O2 for about a minute, using an O2 tank attached to a wand with a stone at the end to produce fine bubbles.

As to which one to try first, any will do, but if you want to gain experience with the lager flavor, you might want to start with a simple, light, clear lager (mostly pilsner malt, and 2 or 3 noble hop additions such as Saaz or Hallertauer), as the darker lagers will mask the flavor more.

For lagers, you generally want to mash for 1-1/2 hours and boil for about 1-1/2 hours. For specialty malts, you can add a little Vienna or light Munich malt to give it more of a "decocted" flavor, and also to add a little color. I also always add a little aciduated malt to reduce the PH level, which is better for mashing lagers. In terms of water profile, you generally want soft water with few minerals. If your tap water is hard, consider using about 50% reverse osmosis water, depending on how hard your water is. Other than that, for the lighter lagers, you generally don't need to add any additional specialty malts.

 

This will certainly result in a more fermentable wort (thus a drier beer) than a shorter mash. Is there some other reason you mash that long?

 

That is the main reason (generally, IMO drier lagers taste better), although pilsner malt contains fewer enzymes than 2-two malt, so could use a little more time mashing to get full conversion. This is especially true if you were to do a decoction (which I generally do). If I don't do a decoction, I generally mash for about 1-1/4 hours. Thus I should have mentioned 1-1/4 hours above, rather than 1-1/2.

 

"Full conversion" (all starches converted to something smaller than starches) can happen very fast, like well under 30 minutes, in many/most mashes. Additional time does, of course affect the sugar/dextrin profile, i.e. fermentability. That aside, I don't know that it's accurate to say that pilsner malt (as a rule) has less DP than "2-row" malt, if by 2-row you mean non-pilsner pale brewer's malts. It all depends on the particular malt(ster). For example, Bries Brewers Malt and Briess Pilsen Malt both have a very high 140 DP.

 

According to "New Brewing Lager Beer" (Gregory Noonan):

"The duration of the saccharification rest also affects fermentability and flavor. A 120-minute mash is going to eke out every bit of diastatic power that the malt has to offer, while a 45-minute mash at the same temperature is going to leave more polysaccharides. Consequently, a two-hour mash at 149 degrees F is going to give a beer with a lower final gravity than a 45-minute mash at the same temperature." (Page 301).

Also:

"Maintain the rest temperature for forty-five to sixty minutes, or up to a maximum of two hours for greater attenuation."

In terms of diastatic power, it does differ depending on the maltster. I found that in general, the diastatic power of typical American two-row malt is about 140 degrees lintner, while German pilsner malt is about 110 degrees lintner. Somewhat lower, thus if a one hour mash if typical for American two-row, I give it 15 more minutes for German Pilsner malt (and an extra half hour if I am doing a decoction).

 

Source for above:

http://beersmith.com/blog/2010/01/04/diastatic-power-and-mashing-your-beer/

 

I'm glad to see Noonan agreed with me!

Another way of saying the same thing...a longer mash yields more fermentable wort. But again, this is about fermentability, not "full conversion" per se.

 

Although not near as critical as the fermentability advantage, see the rest of what I said regarding diastatic power and type of malt.

 

Hmmm...I'm not sure what you're getting at.
Diastatic power (DP) is a measure of the level of alpha and beta amylase. You need enough DP for full conversion (all starches to non-starches), which generally happens in much less than an hour. Beyond full conversion, remaining enzymes will continue to reduce the lengths of the sugars/dextrins, resulting in a more fermentable wort up until the enzymes are all denatured, which is why longer mash times result in more fermentability (lower FG).

Is there something above that you don't agree with?

 

Yes, I agree, except for the part about FULL conversion taking place in far less than one hour, as mentioned in the quotes by Noonan. My understanding of diastatic power is:

"Diastatic power refers to the enzymatic power of the malt itself – its ability to break down starches into even simpler fermentable sugars during the mashing process. The term “diastatic” refers to “diastase” enzymes. There are two “diastese” enzymes, the first is alpha amylase and the second is beta amylase."

My point was that there is less diastatic power in some malts, such as some German pilsner malts, compared to American two-row malt. Although enzymes activity is 'strongest' for the first 20 minutes of the mash, enzymes continue to work for up to about two hours, as Noonan mentioned.

Since some German pilsner malts contain about 20% fewer enzymes than American two-row malt (measured according to degrees lintner), and because one hour basically takes care of the majority of conversion when using American two-row malt, I add an extra 15 minutes to account for the difference (also recommended in some source I read years ago).

 

Noonan does not say that full conversion doesn't happen in less than an hour. In fact, he specifically uses 45 minutes in his example. The difference, in his example, between the 45 minute mash and the 120 minute mash, is fermentability. Both achieve full conversion.

 

If that's the case, then please help me correct my understanding of what enzymes continue to do after full conversion? If everything's converted to sugars after 45 minutes at the most, how can fermentability increase?

 

Full conversion means that all the starches have been converted to something that is no longer a starch, i.e. a mixture of fermentable sugars and unfermentable dextrins. The longer the mash goes (and there are still enzymes that have not denatured), the more unfermentable dextrins will be converted to fermentable sugars, but only to a point. There will always be some unfermentable dextrins left.

TLDR:
Full Conversion = no starches left
Full Conversion <> all starches converted to sugars (which is not possible)