Lagering advice needed

Lots of yeast, lots of oxygen, and lots of patience

 

No equipment needed outside the normal ale equipment as long as you have the ability to ferment cold and store cold for extended time.

Tips....
BIG yeast starters. Don't neglect.
Be patient.
Diacetyl rest - don't skip
Give some thought to your rotation. Are you using the same fermentation chamber for primary and lagering? If so do you also need it for your ales? If you do both it takes some planning to keep a steady stream of beer going and ready when you want it

 

You won't need any extra supplies. You're good to go with the external temperature control. Make sure you do a diacetyl rest when you have a few points to go. 65 F for 2 days *should* be good. Transfer to keg (preferably), or secondary and lager for 1-2 months at 33-35 F.

 

If you are going to shoot for a 33 degree setting for lagering, test the accuracy of your setting first with water to see if it freezes.

 

@Beerly_Beloved, do you have a non-oxygen permeable secondary to lager the beer in?

Cheers!

 

I brew dark lagers 1-2 times a year and have played with quite a few yeast strains. Now I only use dry yeast for this Style. I am a big fan of the 34/70 dry yeast for dunkels. I have recently brewed one using the S-189 dry yeast. While this batch is still laggering and I have not got it on tap the hydrometer sample was excellent much smoother then the 34/70. If your O.G. is not too high you will not need a starter with the dry yeast. Take care.

 

There are a number of differences:

Fermentation

You need to pitch more yeast for a lager vs. an ale. The rule of thumb is double the amount. For example if you would typically pitch a single pack of liquid ale yeast to ferment an ale you would want two packs of liquid lager yeast (or make a yeast starter to double amount). The other option is to pitch a single sachet of dry lager yeast as mentioned by @premierpro.

You also need to ferment cooler for lagers (e.g., 50’s degrees F). You need a fermentation chamber to do this.

Lagers typically take longer to complete primary fermentation (e.g., a couple of weeks). Let your hydrometer readings determine when fermentation is complete.

Some brewers like to conduct a diacetyl rest towards the end of fermentation. With a few points of gravity still left raise the temperature to room temperature (e.g., 68 degrees F) for a few days to complete fermentation. I personally do not conduct a diacetyl rest when producing lager beers.

Lagering

Transfer the beer to a non-oxygen permeable vessel for lagering. If you are making 5 gallon batches you need a 5 gallon vessel (e.g., a 5 gallon carboy, a 5 gallon corny keg, etc.).

You need to lager at cold temperature (near freezing or 30’s degrees F) for a longish period of time. I choose to lager my moderate gravity lagers for 5-6 weeks. You need a freezer or some other cold lagering chamber to do this.

Brewing lagers is not necessarily harder but it takes longer (i.e., you need patience) and there are more steps which requires your attention.

Cheers!

P.S. I recommend you read:

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

 

If you are brewing 5 gallon batches the extra 1.5 g of headspace in a 6.5 g carbon is problematic because of oxidation.

 

Another rookie mistake that I recall. When you transfer to secondary still use an airlock even though your beer has been sitting at FG for awhile . Solid bungs become projectiles if you don't

 

I just finished up my first lager, and a couple of things that really made my experience a good one was making sure I used an accurate pitch rate calculator, research lager temps, and be patient. After using mr malty I found for the lager I was brewing I needed over double what my ales take. I wound up pitching two smack packs into a 4L starter. Second, while it is counterintuitive, when you lager the colder you go the longer you need to lager. I lagered my beer at 34 degrees for 8 weeks. The same beer could be done at six weeks at 40 degrees. In the end, patience is king. I wanted to cut my lagering short at six weeks, but let it ride the full eight and the results are delicious.

 

Used Wyeast 2042, put the stir plate inside the keezer and make the starter at 50. Same temp as fermenting. Make sure wort is 60 or below before blending.

 

Would lagering in a 5 gallon keg be a good place to lager?

 

Yes. Probably ideal

 

Actually, starter can be made at room temperature, (will finish in the same amount of time as ale). It's a good idea to chill and decant starter though.

 

If you are lagering to clean up fermentation products, then I agree. If the the fermentation products were cleaned up with a diacetyl rest, the lagering at the lowest temp will clear the beer faster. I do a diacetyl rest and lager at 30F.

 

It's great that you have a temp controller. That is probably the biggest hurdle when getting into brewing lagers.

I would also suggest trying out wyeast 2124, it's one of the most widely used lager strains in the world and for good reason. It works well at both low and higher temps and will work well for a wide range of lager styles.

A great alternative on the dry yeast side would be 34/70. Excellent versatile yeast.

My other suggestion (and some may disagree) would be to skip the extended lagering phase on your first attempt. If you nail your initial fermentation and D rest, you can easily get away with a short lagering period (as little as a week or two) and produce an excellent lager. You can always extend the lagering period on your second batch and see if you even appreciate the difference.