BBP Wunderlager

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ClarenceBoddicker

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So I've been away for while, possibly years and I've come back with a grainfather, an inkbird controlled fridge setup and am brewing a light, hoppy, summer lager based loosely on Brussels Beet Project's Wunderlager. I've taken their recipe and adjusted with some bits of advice I've seen elsewhere (and I didn't quite have the grain I needed so added a bit of pale malt and carapils to the lager malt). The fermentation has gone to plan and it has dropped from 1.044 to 1.016 in 17 days and tastes surprisingly good, a slightly bitter, nicely hopped lager. I'm debating whether even to dry hop as I'm happy if it keeps this flavour profile. I suppose my question is, I can't detect diacetyl so should I bother with a diacetyl rest and will I need to lager for any longer than recommended in the recipe if I'm happy with the taste now? Attached the basic recipe BBP shared once, I'd like to have it kegged and lagered at 2 degrees until the Jubilee weekend when I want to share it. Any advice, as always is much appreciated.
 

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Welcome back, and that looks like a great brew to kick off with.
A couple of things come to mind. Has fermentation finished yet? You‘re 8 points short of predicted FG, was it at 1.016 3 or 4 days ago. Secondly, up to 10% of the population can’t taste diacetyl, are you happy you’re not one of them? A D-rest has the advantage of pepping up flagging lager yeast on the way up helping ensure fermentation completes and giving viable yeast time to clean up the beer on the way back down. (Although I don’t bother with that bit anymore myself).
I’d drop the dry hop if I liked it as it is. Then next time, dry hop and see if it’s better.
 
Welcome back, and that looks like a great brew to kick off with.
A couple of things come to mind. Has fermentation finished yet? You‘re 8 points short of predicted FG, was it at 1.016 3 or 4 days ago. Secondly, up to 10% of the population can’t taste diacetyl, are you happy you’re not one of them? A D-rest has the advantage of pepping up flagging lager yeast on the way up helping ensure fermentation completes and giving viable yeast time to clean up the beer on the way back down. (Although I don’t bother with that bit anymore myself).
I’d drop the dry hop if I liked it as it is. Then next time, dry hop and see if it’s better.
Cheers,
Some very good points! My OG was 1.044 mind you but my grain bill was a bit more than the recipe. The gravity is dropping a point a day at the moment, dropped temp to 8 degrees today so will plan to d-rest in a couple of days if it keeps going as you're right, I've never noticed that in any of my ales (although mostly strong ipas so could be well hidden). Hopefully can keg after that for a short lagering. Thanks for the sage advice, missed this for a long while!
 
I should clarify, I do a 3 day D-rest for all my lagers taking the temp up 1C a day after the gravity drops below 1.020.
The bit I don’t bother with is the slow drop in temp afterwards, taking it down to lagering temp over a day or two.
 
Ah OK, so ramping straight up from 8 to 18 probably won't be good for it? Sorry, this is my first lager, and my first D-rest for that matter. If I go up one degree a day now I'm not sure how that will work out. I also wondered as the packet yeast says upper fermentation temp is 15 degrees...
 
A rise of 1 or 2 degrees a day will be fine. To be honest, a more rapid rise probably won’t hurt, I still do things at the more traditional slower rate as it has worked for me in the past, and it’s factored into the schedule from the outset.
By the time you pass 15C fermentation will have finished, or be pretty close to it, so you won’t need to worry about yeast derived off flavours. The yeast will be happy and will be munching on diacetyl while it sits between 18 and 20C for a few days. The slow drop to 1C would take another 10 days, and I usually can’t be bothered waiting that long so I drop it more quickly.
 

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