Luckyeddie's AG#8 - Payback

[luckyeddie]

Well, the mash tun is now tried and tested with a tough one to handle - a witbier - and there were no stuck mash / sparge problems. Also, the clarity / lack of bits was astounding - a thousand times better than the in-boiler BIAB AG brewing I'd been doing.

As payback for Dave (my brother in law) actually doing the mash tun plumbing for me, he gets a brew. I hoped I'd have the opportunity to astound him with my skill, but no. He drinks Stella Artois - out of choice, I must add. No-one forces him to do it.

So, a lager is the order of the day this weekend:

Lager Malt 4.4 kg

Hersbrucker @ 30 mins 30g
Saaz @ 5 mins 30g

Yeasties S-23

20 litres @ 1050 OG is the target.

I hope he appreciates the fact that he's going to be occupying one of my fridges for a month.

The usual - pictures yadayada. I'll be aiming for a 65C 60 minute mash (agency phone calls notwithstanding).

 

[luckyeddie]

No piccies today.

No problem until the end - flipping hop strainer bunged up completely and I had to 'scoop and filter'. I have never seen so much break material. I left it 20 minutes after chilling before running off - I got a litre before it slowed to a dribble (the first litre took a minute or so - the next litre took around 10 minutes). It was definitely the strainer and not the tap.

It's a bought hop strainer and only has about 20 hacksaw cuts. Anyone think that might be the problem?

Ended up collecting 18 litres at 1050 (got bored with straining and ditched the last bit).

 

[luckyeddie]

Bubbling away now in the fridge at 12C

 

[luckyeddie]

Boring fridge piccies...


I took out the glass salad shelf and made a replacement shelf out of wood to stand the FV on

DIY bubbler, improvised because there isn't sufficient headspace between the fridge ceiling and the top of the FV for an airlock

Perfect temperature for primary fermentation with Saflager S-23

 

[luckyeddie]

17 days in, still in primary fermentation and bubbling at the rate of a gloop every 5 seconds. There's still quite a lot of activity going on, so it's still far too early to consider a diacetyl rest, I believe, but in the last day the krauzen appears to have threatened to fall back. I shall monitor it very closely over the next couple of days.

Any of you more experienced lager brewers, feel free to chip in.

 

[luckyeddie]

Fridge temperature has drifted down to 10C - still fermenting.

Measured SG now 1020 (from original 1050). Expect final SG to be around 1012 so by my reckoning that's around 80% complete.

Have now removed from the fridge - will leave at ambient temperature for next 48-72 hours to perform diacetyl rest.

Sneaky taste - very nice (although I'm not a lager drinker). Slight sulphur smell - I'm assured that this is normal at this stage.

 

[luckyeddie]

Well, it just shows how much I (don't) know about yeasties.

I performed the diacetyl rest and the activity as the temperature climbed went crazy for 48 hours and has now stopped just as suddenly. The SG has plummeted to 1006 - way below what I expected. This puts the alcohol content up to around 5.7%.

Racking now, will start the lagering process (fridge at 1C) as soon as it's done.

Although it's warm, it actually tastes damned fine (and I am not, never have been and probably never will be) a lager drinker. Long, loooooooonnnnng lingering taste.