Lager brewing

It's kind of hard to recommend improvements without knowing what you are already doing. What's your current process?

 

If you want to make the best possible lagers, I'd say...

- Move from partial mash to all grain. Then you'll have full control over color, body, and fermentability
- Know you water, and control it (possibly build from RO/distilled), especially for lagers. IMO the flavor ions/balances are more critical in lagers because there are less yeast related flavors, bringing other things forward.
- 54F is probably fine. I usually ferment lagers at 50F, approaching that temp from below, not jumpstarting the yeast at a higher temp to try to get a faster start and then lowering the temp.
- 2-3 weeks is pretty short for lagering. But maybe not for American style lagers, which I don't do. Paging @hopfenunmaltz

You didn't mention starters, nutrients or oxygenation. Make big starters...pitch at twice a typical ale rate. Use a yeast nutrient, like Wyeast Nutrient Blend. And oxygenate well with pure O2.

 

Too small for most lagers. Try the yeast calculator at Mr. Malty or YeastCalc. Or use the one integrated into BrewCipher. You'll be surprised by the starter sizes recommended. Do it anyway.

There's the Book "Water." But first, I'd recommend reading the Water Knowledge pages at Bru'nWater, and the White Papers at @utahbeerdude's site. Utahbeerdude has also developed a great water calculator, MpH 2.0, which you can download at his site. His models are also integrated into BrewCipher.

I don't really know. But since the lagering period is normally longer than the time it takes to carbonate, I don't carbonate until the very end.

It depends on what's (what compounds) causing the problem. Are you using irish moss/whirfloc in the boil? They can help prevent chill haze by dropping proteins. Adequate Calcium in your water can expedite yeast flocculation. A general recommendation is at least 50 ppm Calcium, but some lagers benefit from softer water, with the understanding that they will take longer to clear. And longer (and colder) lagering can help protein/tannin complexes drop out.

Some people also use post-fermentation finings, such as gelatin. I've never found it necessary to do that.

 

Bill Pierce wrote an excellent article entitled: “The Lowdown on Lagering: Advanced Brewing”.

The discussion about lagering duration from that article:

“…Greg Noonan — brewpub owner and author of “New Brewing Lager Beer” (1996, Brewers Publications) — recommends 7–12 days per each 2 °Plato of original gravity. (One degree Plato is roughly equal to 4 specific gravity “points.”). For lower gravity lagers the time is reduced to 3–7 days.”

http://byo.com/stories/item/1488-the-lowdown-on-lagering-advanced-brewing

All of the lagers I have brewed so far are of moderate gravity; around 1.050 (around 12 °P). I personally select the ‘mid-point’ of 7 days. So the math is: 12/2 * 7 = 42 days (6 weeks) of lagering time.

Cheers!

 

Decant or not?

 

Always.

 

Another option is to use dry lager yeast. No need to make a starter when using dry yeast.

@premierpro likes Fermentis W-34/70 dry lager yeast: http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...re-fermentation-question.225018/#post-2928165

Cheers!

 

I typically use gelatin in all my beers. If you're not using any other agents I'd say definitely go with gelatin and that beer will be crystal clear.

I also will leave my lagers for 2-3 MONTHS, not weeks. The longer the better.

 

You can get a lager clear quickly by lagering at 30F which is about -1 C. You need to do a Diacetyl recast for a couple days at the end and then crash once the beer is cleaned up. Longer is better in my book.

It would take a lot of packs of dry lager yeast to hit the right cell count.

 

THIS!!!!
As far as I'm concerned, longer is better for most ales as well.
Homebrewers (and some commercial brewers these days) are always in too much of a hurry.
Time is your friend.

 

Well, you might want to reconsider the length of time for your ales. A brewing scientist posted that exceeding 3 weeks has a risk of yeast autolysis. You can read more here: http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...-too-long-in-the-primary.283588/#post-3572265

Cheers

 

When did @LuskusDelph say anything about leaving ales in primary for an extended time? When people talk about lagering, or cold conditioning ales, I think it's safe to assume they generally are not talking about in the primary, on the yeast cake.

 

Right! Definitely not on the primary yeast cake. In fact. I routinely move my brews out of the primary in as little as 3 to 5 days (depending on the beer)
I still do the secondary container for all of my beers (it has never caused any problems in 40 years...besides which, old habits die hard ).
In any case, the brews all spend some time in the 2ndary vessel to clear after which they are either transferred to a corny for further aging prior to pouring, or in the case of some of my strong ales, a co2 purged third vessel (where I've kept some beer bulk aging for a long as a year).

 

As far as yeast goes (by far the most important part of a lager) you need twice as much as a comparable ale, and you also need more oxygen, so pure oxygen through a stone is essential. Start cold (like 48-50F) and then let if get to mid-50s at the end of fermentation and through a maturation period of several days before you chill it.

There are different ways to chill and it's more traditional to slowly cool or cool through a few steps but just sticking your keg in a 30F fridge works as long as it has had enough warm time for the yeast to clean up everything it needs to.

For a pils, the only thing lagering more than 3-4 weeks is going to do it make a clearer beer if you aren't going to filter or fine. Since most commercial pilsner brewers filter their beer, its pretty common to lager for about three weeks, even in Germany. If you are trying to get the clearest beer with just gravity, it can take a lot longer than that and then you also need to be looking at how every step of your process is affecting clarity down the stream.

 

Don't German lager brewers primarily aerate in-line (between chiller and fermenter) with sterile air instead of pure oxygen (through a stone)?