National Hombrew Comp-Primary vs Secondary

I took note of: “All of the lagers except for one used a secondary which is not suprising.”

So, a lager won a Gold Medal at the NHC and that beer did not utilize a secondary. That seems to ‘validate’ the new opinion of John Palmer of: “Even lagers do not require racking to a second fermenter before lagering.”

I must confess that I am surprised that the homebrewer who won that Gold while lagering in a primary had the chutzpah to actually do that; the utilization of a secondary for lagering is ingrained as a necessary practice (conventional wisdom).

Cheers!

 

Good information, time to rethink some brewing procedure aspects.

Cheers!

 

That is not necessarily true. Traditionally lambics are aged on lees, while Flanders reds are not.

 

Yup.

 

Was it the dark lager that did not specify a secondary?

 

I searched on the AHA website but did not see the winning recipes. Link please?

 

If you are kegging your lagers, you are basically doing a secondary in the keg. I think the following approach is viable for those who lack kegging systems.

Before I got my kegging set-up all my lagers went straight from primary to the bottle. I basically did the lager fermentation approach recommended by Jamil Zainsheff (it has a German name...): start at low temp, raise temp gradually, begin diacetyl rest before primary is complete. Package beer when it is at terminal gravity with no taste of fermentation off-flavors like diacetyl or acetaldehyde. Prime (I used table sugar) and carbonate at warm temperature fo three weeks. Then gradually bring temp down and lager in the bottle for several weeks. I don't have lots of lagers under my belt, but I followed this procedure for at least five different batches. All were very drinkable beers. The only one that stands out as unlagerlike was a high gravity American pils that used S-23 (notorious for fruity off-flavors).

 

Those area printed in Zymurgy, and can be viewed online if you are an AHA member.

 

I am a member and did search the site. Didn't know the new mag was out already. Got it.

 

Looking closely, there were lagers in cat 1-5 as should be. The Baltic Porter was a lager, fermented at 56F, then lagered at 35F temp. The Fruit Beer in Cat 22 was a lager. The Smoked Helles in Cat 22 was a Lager.

So I count 8 lagers. I didn't count the Graetzer that was a top fermented lagered beer. Said that for our UK friends. ;-)

 

The guy who won that category, Jeff Lewis, won the Pilsner Urquell competition in Chicago. Twice! I think he knows how to make a lager.

I would want to have a system that removed most of the break from the wort before the heat is pitched. A little cold break is good for the yeast. A lot of cold break and hot break would not be good for the beer with extended aging. Maybe someone knows him and can ask what he does.