Lager recipe - advice/comments greatly received!

[Cononthebarber]

Planning on doing a lager in the next couple weeks but as its my first I want to make sure I've got my process down ok.

Recipe:

4kg Lager Malt
500g Munich Malt
250g Caramalt

90 minute mash at 66c

90 minute boil

Hops:

Hallertauer Hersbrucker - 15g @ 90 mins
Hallertauer Hersbrucker - 15g @ 15 mins
Saaz - 20g @ 0mins

Dry hopping:

Saaz 25g @ 7days

Ferment:

7 days @ 12c in fermenting fridge

Then bring temp down to 2c over the next 10 days (i.e. 1c per day)

Should I transfer into a secondary FV at this point or not?

Lager for 4 weeks at 2c

Yeast:

Saflager s-23 dry yeast - rehydrated 30 mins before pitching

Thanks in advance :

 

[pittsy]

i would transfer your beer before the end of fermentation and finish off in new fv so a clean fv with co2 protecting ready for your lagering , then when all finished lagering you should raise temp back to 12c then say 18c for a couple of days so you get a thingy rest (popcorn) which is vital with clean crisp lagers before you bottle it , looking good though . :thumb:

 

[Cononthebarber]

Ok cheers Pittsy, I'll do as suggested - ferment in primary for say 3-4 days or until it reaches around 1020 then transfer into secondary to finish, I'll still add the dry hops once ferment is finished and leave in for 7 days in a hop bag then remove before lagering?

 

[Darcey]

Shouldn't the diacetyl rest be done before lagering as afterwords the yeast wont be in any condition to redigest the diacetyl and other keytones?

Also a good idea to over pitch yeasts for lagers. If you have another spare packet of s-23 throw that in as well especially if you can control your fermentation temperatures.

D

 

[Cononthebarber]

Shouldn't the diacetyl rest be done before lagering as afterwords the yeast wont be in any condition to redigest the diacetyl and other keytones?

Also a good idea to over pitch yeasts for lagers. If you have another spare packet of s-23 throw that in as well especially if you can control your fermentation temperatures.

D

Do you mean to ferment out at 12c then raise up to 16/18c for diacetyl rest, how long for maybe 5 days? Could I dry hop at this point, then drop down to 2c for lagering?

I do have two packs of s-23 yeast so maybe I will pitch both

 

[Darcey]

That would be my advice on doing a lager. Higher pitching rates will make sure any ester profile is very limited as long as you can control the fermentation temperature to make sure it doesnt get out of control. I tend to dry hop after initial aggressive fermentation or just before or at the start of any rests.

Naturally there are others who brew lagers much more often but this is what I have done successfully before.

D

 

[Good Ed]

Godd luck with your first lager, more people should try AG lager.

You don't say what your OG FG and IBU's are

I wouldn't use that much Caramalt, I did a Helles with the same ingredients as you and didn't like the Caramalt in those quantities. I now follow Jamil's recipes from his podcasts on the Brewing Network, and use Pilsner, Munich and Melanoidin. The Melanoidin gives you some flavour that you would get from a decoction mash, but you only use 50-60g for a 23L brew. If you don't have any Melanoidin by all means use Caramalt, but I would only use a small quantity.

Also I wouln't dry hop a lager.

Fermentation with lagers should take about 3 weeks, Jamil says don't even think about it for 3 weeks. Now if you are going to lager it then it makes sense to rack it off to a secondary before this. A better way is to get a CO2 dispenser so you can purge the headspace of your FV with CO2. If you are fermenting at a constant 12C You won't get any diacetyl, and I find it unnecessary to do a diacetyl rest

 

[DirtyCaner]

I would ferment at 12c then raise temp 1c a day to 16c and leave at this for 3-4 days before dropping to 2c for the lagering phase. That's what I do.

 

[Cononthebarber]

Right so this is on today...

After all your helpful comments I'm going for:

4kg Lager Malt
500g Munich Malt
150g Vienna Malt
50g Caramalt

90 minute mash at 66c

90 minute boil

Hops:

Hallertauer Hersbrucker - 15g @ 90 mins
Hallertauer Hersbrucker - 15g @ 15 mins
Saaz - 20g @ 0mins

Ferment:

3-4 days @ 12c in fermenting fridge (or until 1020) then transfer to secondary
Leave for a further 2-3 days until 1010 or below then raise temp to 18c for 2 days for Diacetyl rest

Lager for 4 weeks at 2c, then bottle.

Sound reasonable? :thumb:

 

[Cononthebarber]

So job done :)

Ended with 18 litres of 1060 wort! I liquored back to 1048 so now have just under 23 litres :)

Should have a tasty 5% lager in 5-6 weeks time...hopefully will be in time for drinking and catching some rays?

 

[phettebs]

Three to four days seems awfully quick for primary fermentation of a lager. I've never used a dry lager yeast so maybe they burn through it quickly. But lagers are generally a lot slower to ferment than ales, at least in my experience. Looks like a nice beer though. Best of luck!

 

[Cononthebarber]

3-4 days may be optimistic, I will transfer into secondary at 1020 :thumb:

 

[Cononthebarber]

One problem though was I forgot to add irish moss I'm guessing though this may not be such a problem as I will be lagering at 2c for 4 weeks, will all the proteins and what-not drop out? I hope so as I don't want a cloudy lager...

 

[phettebs]

yeah, that's not critical. You can always add finings before packaging too.

 

[Good Ed]

Three to four days seems awfully quick for primary fermentation of a lager. I've never used a dry lager yeast so maybe they burn through it quickly. But lagers are generally a lot slower to ferment than ales, at least in my experience. Looks like a nice beer though. Best of luck!

+1 to what Baz says :thumb: , also I just follow Jamil Zainasheff's advice for fermenting lagers; don't even look at it for 3 weeks. My view is that is not necessary to transfer to secondary during fermentation.

 

[DirtyCaner]

Keep your lager simple, that's my advice

 

[Cononthebarber]

Cheers guys :thumb:

 

[Cononthebarber]

Well it seems to be fermenting well, loads of foam on top and a good krausen. Looks grand :party:

 

[RobWalker]

just to butt in - I think you will appreciate the munich and caramalt in there. as an ale drinker, lager can have a weird sweetness, even using lager malt in an ale. a bit of malt backbone will suit your tongue I think!

 

[Cononthebarber]

No please butt away :lol:

Yes, I hope so, I'm not really a lager drinker tbh, but I reckon the extra maltlyness will make this one I definitely will like. We shall see :)