A Fast 34/70 Lager Is A .....

[Bada Bing Brewery]

Hmm I've just put down a 1.052 lager with 2x 34/70 and SG has not changed a point in 7 days. There's a fair layer on the top and a decent cake on the bottom. It was pitched at 12c and reduced to 10c over 2 days. I raised it back up to 12c and gave it a bit of a splash, but I have a feeling something more sinister is at play if everyone else is finding this yeast to be speedy!

Not to be a ****** but mine's finished and now going to CC . I'd give her a shake up and leave it for a few days. How much air did you get into the wort when you pitched??
cheers
BBB

 

[iralosavic]

Not to be a ****** but mine's finished and now going to CC . I'd give her a shake up and leave it for a few days. How much air did you get into the wort when you pitched??
cheers
BBB

Haha I wish mine was CCing so I could start fermenting another batch! How much air? As much as pouring it from a cube into a fermenter generates. Usually plenty! If nothing has happened by the time I next check it out, I'll get out ye faithful whisk and go at it like a bull in a vagina shop.

 

[labels]

Relax, have another home brew haha That's a quote in a 30 year old brewing book my grandfather gave me.

Good about time it came back again and 30 years??????? How many centuries have they been brewing beer.

RDWHAHB, yep, think I will

Steve

 

[Bada Bing Brewery]

Haha I wish mine was CCing so I could start fermenting another batch! How much air? As much as pouring it from a cube into a fermenter generates. Usually plenty! If nothing has happened by the time I next check it out, I'll get out ye faithful whisk and go at it like a bull in a vagina shop.

With lagers, I shake the absolute **** out of it in the cube. Then after 24 hrs give it another good rattle. I usually get a starter going at 20C for a few hours then drop it to 10C or whatever and pitch it cold.
Good luck
Cheers
BBB

 

[iralosavic]

Mine is down from 12.7 to 10.8 brix, so about 1.037 - Still tastes extremely sweet, just like the unfermented wort. At least it has started doing something now! I can relax and have a home brew and go and check in a week. I haven't heard of anyone needing to do a D-rest for 34/70.

 

[QldKev]

My fastest was I pitched in the morning and by the afternoon the gravity said it was ready for kegging. I thought WOW, then I realized I checked the other fermenter.

 

[Bada Bing Brewery]

Mine is down from 12.7 to 10.8 brix, so about 1.037 - Still tastes extremely sweet, just like the unfermented wort. At least it has started doing something now! I can relax and have a home brew and go and check in a week. I haven't heard of anyone needing to do a D-rest for 34/70.

Heading in the right direction. Give it a few days and check again just to see if it speeds up. I just d-rest all lagers standard. I am very sensitive to diacetyl - I can stand across a room and look at a beer and tell if it has too much
Mine is at -1C and will keg on friday. I'm just not good at the next bit though - lagering.

Cheers
BBB

 

[iralosavic]

I've never tasted a diacetyl beer before (to the best of my knowledge) and my palate has no difficulty with butterscotch...

My brewery is not at my house and having a toddler in my care makes frequent trips to check SG not a real option, so timing a D-rest is more of a challenge than you'd expect without knowing my situation.

I've got settlement ending in March for a property with a big garage with my name on it, after which point ill be afforded all the liberties of home brewing. I'm pretty excited about it actually as I have big plans for my brewery setup (including plumbing hot water and a drain to the shed for cleaning). Getting fairly OT though!

 

[iralosavic]

I've never tasted a diacetyl beer before (to the best of my knowledge) and my palate has no difficulty with butterscotch...

My brewery is not at my house and having a toddler in my care makes frequent trips to check SG not a real option, so timing a D-rest is more of a challenge than you'd expect without knowing my situation.

I've got settlement ending in March for a property with a big garage with my name on it, after which point ill be afforded all the liberties of home brewing. I'm pretty excited about it actually as I have big plans for my brewery setup (including plumbing hot water and a drain to the shed for cleaning). Getting fairly OT though!

4 days later it's at 9.9 brix, so about 1.30. Very slow going! I wonder how if this is purely down to an insufficient oxygenation of the wort, as it was sat to cool overnight prior to pitching... I think it has reached the point where oxygenating it is becoming a sensible option - if I let it get too much lower first, it could oxidise the beer. For now, I have swooshed the fermenter around to get some more yeast into suspension.

 

[labels]

4 days later it's at 9.9 brix, so about 1.30. Very slow going! I wonder how if this is purely down to an insufficient oxygenation of the wort, as it was sat to cool overnight prior to pitching... I think it has reached the point where oxygenating it is becoming a sensible option - if I let it get too much lower first, it could oxidise the beer. For now, I have swooshed the fermenter around to get some more yeast into suspension.

You should measure it with a hydometer, refractometers can be way off as soon as there's alcohol in the mix.

Steve

 

[iralosavic]

You should measure it with a hydometer, refractometers can be way off as soon as there's alcohol in the mix.

Steve

The results I'm reporting are after using a calculator that takes the alcohol into account. I've cross-checked this calculator with numerous hydrometer readings and have concluded that it is consistent and reliable. I also taste each sample from the pipette, which gives me an indication that the reading is in the ballpark - otherwise I'd clean the refractometer and start again with a new pipette or check with a calibrated hydrometer.

 

[Brewman_]

A good pitch of yeast at 9 Deg. C without forced oxygenation should ferment vigorously, not just tick over, and be at FG within 7 to 10 days, even earlier. I have never been equipped to oxygenate the wort, but I expect it would be faster if you did this.

Fear

 

[iralosavic]

A good pitch of yeast at 9 Deg. C without forced oxygenation should ferment vigorously, not just tick over, and be at FG within 7 to 10 days, even earlier. I have never been equipped to oxygenate the wort, but I expect it would be faster if you did this.

Fear

By oxygenate, I just mean go at it with a whisk etc I don't have medical grade oxygen like the Yankees for airating. I'm crossing my fingers it's done by the weekend.

 

[Thefatdoghead]

Okay there is a bit of controversy using this method. It is not new and is used commercially. The principal behind this is, if you crash chill you put the yeast to sleep straight away - in other words they become inactive very quickly. Chilling slowly allows yeast to become aclimatised to the lower temperatures and still remain active, albeit somewhat less than at the higher temperatures.

That's the first part. The second reasoning behind this is the yeast play a major role in cleaning up fermentation by-products after all the sugars have been exhausted. The one we all hear about all the time of course is diacetyl. There is also acetaldehyde and no doubt a bunch of others I have never heard of.

From my experience in making lagers over the last few years, slow chilling has a major impact on the 'clean' taste profile of a lager and also has an major impact on the 'smoothness', in other words clean, crisp but not bitey or acidic taste. Lager should clean, crisp but also smooth to the pallate.

I have tried almost all variations of lager fermentation, most at least twice and using this method absolutely trumps any other method from my experience. I do, and always will believe that the brewer makes the wort and the yeast make the beer and if you keep the yeast at their very optimum, they will produce the optimum beer.

Steve

I read that in "new brewing lager beer". I agree with what your saying and I practice the method for all my lagers now. As you say dont put the yeast to sleep but keep em lagering!

 

[labels]

I read that in "new brewing lager beer". I agree with what your saying and I practice the method for all my lagers now. As you say dont put the yeast to sleep but keep em lagering!

New brewing lager beer is a great book, it's been in my collection for years now and is a great source of information. You cannot use all the procedures in the book, some are a bit tedious, some outdated and some for big breweries that are just not scalable to a home brew level. However, the basic principles are relevent.

Relevent to you and me. You may have read in this thread it's absolute ******** to some. I don't know who to believe sometimes, Greg Noonan or some of the posters here - hard decision sometimes I tell ya!

Steve

 

[iralosavic]

1.008 today. Finally. Not fast by any stretch, but not unreasonable for a lager. Actually attenuated better than anticipated. Now to step it down to -2 for a week, filter, lager a couple of weeks more while carbing and finally complete the taste test! If it passes I will make it my house dry lager strain as its so readily available.

 

[Bada Bing Brewery]

1.008 today. Finally. Not fast by any stretch, but not unreasonable for a lager. Actually attenuated better than anticipated. Now to step it down to -2 for a week, filter, lager a couple of weeks more while carbing and finally complete the taste test! If it passes I will make it my house dry lager strain as its so readily available.

My first keg is nearly gone ..... lagering is not my strong suit but that's why doubles are the go. Funny how mine went off like a fire cracker and yours was more like the traditional lagers I brew (3-5 point drops a day). I hope it turns out for you.
Cheers
BBB

 

[iralosavic]

My first keg is nearly gone ..... lagering is not my strong suit but that's why doubles are the go. Funny how mine went off like a fire cracker and yours was more like the traditional lagers I brew (3-5 point drops a day). I hope it turns out for you.
Cheers
BBB

To be fair it's only incidental lagering, as I just keep it close to 0c while force carbing the slow way (ie connect at serving pressure and wait). I only deliberately lager if I have plenty of full kegs (so hardly ever!).