8 weeks to brew a (drinkable) lager

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Chrislane

Active Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2015
Messages
93
Reaction score
15
Location
NULL
I’m keen to understand if this is possible or if I am not giving it long enough.

We have a family event on the weekend of 18/19 March and there are a number of lager drinkers who I would like to brew a batch for. I boiled up the Greg Hughes recipe for European Lager this weekend and pitched a packet of Mangrove Jacks dried lager yeast yesterday at an OG of 1.048. My current plan is as follows:
Ferment at 12 deg for 10 days
Increase the temperature to 19 deg for 3 days
Transfer into secondary and reduce temp to 3 deg to lager for 2 weeks
Bottle and leave to carbonate at 12 deg for 2 weeks
Condition in cold garage for 2 weeks

So, my main question is whether those timings look like they might work, or should I tweak anything?

Cheers
Chris
 
If you did a full 23L brewlength,you probably underpitched as lager needs twice as much yeast as ale. If you can get another pack of yeast quickly re-hydrate it and chuck it in

Sorry, should have given more info - it's a 10 litre batch

Cheers
 
It certainly is possible using the method you describe. It sounds like you've been reading about the Brulosophy quick lager method which does work. I made a kolsch using this method and I was drinking it within 3 weeks of pitching.

Cheers, I hadn't actually seen this one, although I have read a couple which seem to be based on similar principles but aren't as quick. One interesting thing with this Brulosophy method is that it doesn't suggest racking to secondary before lagering, where as I had read elsewhere that this was quite an important step.
 
Cheers, I hadn't actually seen this one, although I have read a couple which seem to be based on similar principles but aren't as quick. One interesting thing with this Brulosophy method is that it doesn't suggest racking to secondary before lagering, where as I had read elsewhere that this was quite an important step.

Usually you'd rack to secondary as you'd lager for several weeks and getting the beer off the yeast cake would prevent autolysis. As the method Marshall uses is only a 3-5 day lagering period, this isn't a concern.
 
Usually you'd rack to secondary as you'd lager for several weeks and getting the beer off the yeast cake would prevent autolysis. As the method Marshall uses is only a 3-5 day lagering period, this isn't a concern.

Ok cheers. I might leave this step in then as I'm hoping I can get 2 weeks lagering in
 
There is one thing that is puzzling me on this method

A number of the processes I have read suggest raising the temp when it has reached approx 50% of expected fermentation. But when does the other 50% happen? Do I wait until it hits target FG before I start the lagering process?
 
The idea is when the beer gets to 50% apparent attenuation (so an sg of 1.024 from an og of 1.048) then you raise the temperature and keep it at the higher temp until fermentation is complete and yeasty byproducts have been cleaned up. Then reduce the temperature to around 0° and hold it there for 3-5 days. This is the "lagering" phase. If you are adding finings it's done during this time.
 
Back
Top