First brew :) lager! Questions...

[Tr0yza]

Hey guys. Finally got around to doing my first brew that came with my homebrew kit need a little bit of help after doing abit of reading on the forums.
It's a Crown lager style that came with the kit.
It's a blue mountain lager with brewblend No.15 (1kg), pride of Ringwood hops and sadly get S-23 yeast.
Before I pitched the yeast I took a reading of 1.060. Instructions said pitch below 30*c and I pitched at around 28*c

It's in my fermentation fridge set at 20*c (instructions say between 18*c-24*c) and been going for 7 days and still slowly bubbling out the airlock. Now I've been reading homebrewtalk forum as that's what came up in my google search and it says I need to "lager" my beer after it has fermented for between 2 weeks to a month at 3-7*c. My instructions that came with my homebrew kit has no mention of this and says should bottle once the OG is settled for around 2 days... Is "lager" that they are referring to just another word for cold crashing?

I'm lost and any tips or help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Bomber Watson]

You made the first newby error and followed the instructions.

You have pitched and fermented far to hot for that yeast.

http://www.fermentis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/SFG_S23.pdf

Not sure if largering will help you, hopefully someone else will have a better idea.

Cheers.

 

[kelbygreen]

Yes fermented to hot for that yeast the instructions under the lid would be referring to a ale yeast, Which is what would be under the lid of the kit. The yeast you have (If it was s-23) is a lager yeast and should be fermented under 15c but some ramp temps up slowly once its almost done then cold crush.

I would not bother really now as its fermented to high. But if it was fermented at 12-15c then prob ramp it up to 18c slowly over a few days then cold crush for a week at least. But I havnt done a lager for 5 years so don't count on 100% that info haha

 

[brzt6060]

Welcome to home brewing, your first brew will be terrible (like most peoples). Don't let this scare you off from the hobby. Hang around here, do lots of reading and ask lots of questions. Before you know it you will be making beer that tastes amazing. PS, Starting with a lager, Brave... I like it!

 

[Tr0yza]

Thank you guys for your help. Should of done more research on lager before I did it instead of following the instructions from the brew store at least I know for next time..
Should I keep going and bottle it when ready? Or should I just throw it out?

 

[BrosysBrews]

Bottle it. If not for any reason other then learning, it will be beer, it will get better with age but may have an off flavor here or there especially early days but that's where we all start mate!

 

[Dae Tripper]

Keep going, it isn't completely ruined yet. If I was you I would get your temp to about 14c now for the rest of the week or till it stops bubbling.
The part where people are talking about raising the temp is the D-rest, this helps the yeast clean up after themselves at/near the end of fermentation (I do it at about 18c). Do this for a few days for your brew as it will need all the help it can get.
Once you have done all that, then you can move to largering/cold crashing to get your brew nice and clear.
Hope that's as clear as a nice larger

 

[Tr0yza]

Thanks again guys! Can only get better with my brew.

 

[verysupple]

<snip>
If I was you I would get your temp to about 14c now for the rest of the week or till it stops bubbling.
The part where people are talking about raising the temp is the D-rest, this helps the yeast clean up after themselves at/near the end of fermentation (I do it at about 18c).
<snip>

I wouldn't drop the temp to 14 C. You said in the OP that you have it at about 20. Lowering the temp will only reduce the yeast activity.

Here's a little background info. Yeast is more active at warmer temps. Lager fementations are usually done fairly cool (anywhere from about 8 to 15 C). A D-rest (diacetyl rest - reduces diacetyl) is sometimes done with lager fermentations to make sure the yeast stays active and metabolises the diacetyl and precursors and leaves molecules that you can't taste. But it's only sometimes necessary (if detectable levels of diacetyl (or precursors) are present) and really only helpful when fermenting at a low temp (i.e. typical lager fermenting temps). All a diacetyl rest is, is raising the temp up a few degrees from typical lager fermenting temps to make sure the yeast stays active and gets rid of nasty tasting stuff after the main fermentation is done.

TLDR: Never drop the fermenting temp during fermentation or until all the nasties are cleaned up.

 

[labels]

As primarily a lager brewer, fermentation temperatures are the most critical process in making lagers. I pitch warm, usually around 24C to 28C BUT I drop the temperature of the fermenter pretty quickly to the yeast manufacturers recommended temperature where I hold it until most of (but not all) fermentation is complete, usually around 80% or when the krausen starts to fall. Then I ramp the temperature to 20C until the krausen has completely fallen. Then drop 1C per day but that's another story.

Making lagers from kits?, I am sorry to say that you will always struggle big time - lagers are really the realm of all grain brewing but give it a go and pay close attention every step of the way, good luck.

 

[mje1980]

And some would say you'd struggle to make a clean lager by pitching at mid to high 20's.

 

[mongey]

don't chuck it man. just keep it going .

on this site there are really knowlebale and dedicated home brewers who have been doing this a long time ,who also are great with helping begginers . you get great advice here but what consititues a "terrible" home brew beer for the seasoned brewers is proabably a higher bar then us begginers shoot for.

sure it will be a decent drinkabale beer

and you will find home brewing has allot of debatable points on best practise. its not an exact set of rules it seems to me

 

[Tasspark]

So now Im a little worried! I have used S-23 also.
Ive had a Coopers Lager in my fridge for the last two weeks (day 14 tomorrow) and until today, I did not have a control thermostat for accurate temperature control.
I was setting a timer to turn the fridge on and off to try and maintain a temperature of 16 - 18C since pitching at 24ish.
(the temp did go over and under once or twice, but that was just the air temp in the fridge. The 22L wort would take a lot longer to change)

Once I worked out the new thermostat today, I set it for 17C but it seems Ive been warmer than the ideal temp under 15.
My SG reading yesterday and today was about 1.011 and I forgot to take an OG but the wort had the Coopers Lager tin, 1Kg of Dex and 250g of LDME with a hop tea (10g Galaxy I think, or maybe cascade, cant remember)
If My SG is 1.011 again tomorrow (day 14) should I go ahead and bottle?