Lager - did I ruin it??

[puravida]

Just kicked off brewing a Brooklyn lager clone on friday night.
Pitched the bock lager yeast at the end and then transferred to my fermentation cupboard that is a constant 21 degrees throughout the year.

I was pleased with it bubbling away gloriously until I suddenly remembered on sunday night I was brewing lager, not ale, and it was way too hot!! I moved it out to my shed that sits at around 10 degrees.

Since then, fermentation has completely dropped off a cliff. Not a bubble.

Have I ruined it??

 

[fizz head1982]

I did my first lager at 18c, maybe it just finished? Not a true lager way of brewing but mine tastes great.

 

[puravida]

mmm - I should have fermented at around 10 degrees from the start. 18 degrees is more into steam beer territory which is fine if that's what you meant to do haha!
My concerns are I've either thrown lots of off flavours into the beer from 2 days fermenting way too hot, or the sudden drop in temperature has sent the yeast into hibernation!

 

[pittsy]

i would say it's buggered , sorry .

 

[puravida]

would you bring it back indoors and hope it kickstarts - maybe end up with a steam beer type brew?

 

[rpt]

i would say it's buggered , sorry .

Is that really the case? May not be as clean as intended but surely still drinkable.

 

[pittsy]

True lager yeast like wlp830 ( one of the more popular german yeast strains ) is on a down hill after 15c so if it was an ale yeast that 15c would be 22c and as he had it at 21c that would be like fermenting ale yeast at 27c or more . A lager will have very little in esters and such like making it a very clean beer and this is why it is one of the hardest to get right . It may well be drinkable but will be on the funky side of lager , maybe it can be saved by dry hopping it and turning it into a hybrid lager ale . 2 days at 21c when it needed 12c or lower will effect it . Also how much did you pitch ( and how old was it ) underpitching can also cause unwanted esters too .

 

[RobWalker]

i'd probably just drink it, it's all malt, hops and yeast aint it. :

 

[jondread]

Give it a chance though, it might turn out alright you never know it it started fermenting then it should be slightly alcoholic, right? If it was me I'd give it its full time in the primary, rack it for a couple of weeks and then try it. No harm done, learn by mistakes and that's the way to progress :)

 

[puravida]

The frustrating thing is I went all out on this one to try and replicate Brooklyn Lager.
This included buying a vial of Whitelabs German Bock Lager yeast (WLP833) rather than my usual US-5 or S-04.

I'm tempted to bring it back indoors to kick the fermentation back into place and then lager it for a few weeks to crisp it up a bit.

Might end up with Brooklyn Steam!

 

[puravida]

Decision made. I've brought it back from the cold shed into my 21 degree cupboard.
Let the experiment begin!

The recipe calls for some heavy duty dry hopping as well as a couple of weeks lagering

Could be interesting!

 

[Ballard]

How'd your clone work out for you? looking to brew some beers for the summer and i like a Brooklyn Lager in the sunshine (if any is forthcoming this year!)

Did you overcome your yeast trouble? Did it taste anything like BL?

 

[stubrewworx]

The frustrating thing is I went all out on this one to try and replicate Brooklyn Lager.
This included buying a vial of Whitelabs German Bock Lager yeast (WLP833) rather than my usual US-5 or S-04!

Where did you get the recipe?

Im looking to do a Brooklyn lager clone (ish). I've search a few recipe bases but couldn't find one.

Stu