My first pilsner.

“I was wondering how long most of you lager for and what are the benefits of lagering it for a long time besides clarity.”

Firstly, let me post my personal practice here. I have been homebrewing lagers since the late 90’s and I have always followed the ‘Noonan rule’ for lagering time:

“…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.

I took note of the question of what are the benefits of lagering besides clarity. I personally have not read anything that was definitive (i.e., definitive for me) on this topic but I have seen a fair bit of discussion. In my opinion what is occurring during the lagering phase is a combination of clarification (i.e., proteins and polyphenols coagulating and dropping out of suspension) and continued yeast processing (albeit at a slow rate due to the cold temperatures). One example of yeast processing could/would be the lager yeast processing sulfur compounds that were produced during the primary fermentation. I suspect that the majority of sulfur processing occurred during the primary fermentation but this can (does) continue during the lagering phase. What other yeast processing occurs during lagering? I have not read any scientific papers on this topic.

My recommendation to you is to lager as long as your patience and comfort dictates. I am not aware of any downsides for lagering long and lagering short has the combined risks of suboptimum clarification and not permitting the lager yeast to fully process the ‘stuff’ that it would have otherwise.

Cheers!

 

My pilsners are 2 weeks grain to glass. One week in primary followed by a few days of cold crashingto 30 degrees then kegged. Pitching a metric shit-ton of yeast helps this go quickly. The kegerator holds it at 37 degrees. It is good at 2 weeks but not commercial quality and is a little sulphury sometimes. After it has been in the keg 4 weeks at 37 it is noticeably better and IMHO commercial quality. Adding gelatin at kegging seems to speed the process. Don’t be in a hurry to drink it all before it has rested for a few weeks.

 

Lagering does something more than just adding clarity to a beer. It typically brings out the "crispness" and "maltiness" that lager lovers desire.

It's important to do, but I don't think you can a hard rule as to how long to do it. There are a lot of factors, including primary technique, lagering vessel of choice, yeast strain selection, and just general fermentation practices. For example, I do not oxygenate my worts, and I feel that I likely need additional fermentation time compared to a brewer who does.

If you have the ability to, sample your beer as it ages. Practice will eventually tell you how long is optimal in your brewery.

 

Yes, the amount of sulfur produced during primary fermentation is indeed yeast strain dependent. I have never brewed using WLP800 but I did brew with the alleged Wyeast equivalent (2001) but that was about 15 years ago and I just don't recall the performance of those fermentations.

Well, the best that I can report here is that I am happy with the hop aroma/flavor of my lagers (I have a Bohemian Pilsner in the bottle conditioning phase right now) after lagering for about 6 weeks.

Maybe shorten your lagering time a little bit? Maybe a total of 4 weeks?

You are the head brewer here and you get to choose.

Cheers!

 

So, about 4 weeks of lagering time 'gets you there'?

Cheers!

 

How long do you lager your moderate gravity lager beers?

Cheers!

 

Quick answer, 3 to 6 weeks. Variables are yeast selection and lagering method.

 

That extra 3 weeks in the keg certainly take it from decent to great.

 

Hopefully other BAs will chime into this thread but so far it seems like something on the order of 4-ish weeks for lagering gets you in the 'ballpark'.

Cheers!

 

My Czech Pils and Czech Dark beer go like this: 5 days in primary at 10 C transfer to spunding keg, 1-2 days in spunding keg at 10 C then go into lagering fridge at 0 C for 2 weeks and it's ready to drink, no clarity problems and I've still yet to have any diacetyl in any of my beers. I exclusively use 2278 in both of these and grow a fresh pitch up from a slant every time.

 

Clarity is good, but where's the head?

 

@TheBeerery how long do you lager standard pilsners?

 

2 weeks at 30f.

 

So what's with the belief that lagers are stores cold for an extended period? Just hoping you can explain the science behind it.

 

I have a feeling it has to do with the fact that pro brewers, and brewers like @TheBeerery are brewing using optimal practices at every step of the process. Homebrewers are often doing sub-optimal practices that require longer conditioning times to achieve similar results.

 

I'm tasting a pilsner I made 3 weeks ago. It was transferred to keg and spunded. It tastes great but is cloudy from me jossling it into the kegerator. Taste is on point but I'm gonna try again in a week to see if everything drops out while also allowing it to condition further.
Shocking how light the color is despite the Munich and carahell. Must be from me trying to avoid oxygen as much as possible.