Lagering - What Do You Use?

[Filby]

So if it was a normal sized freezer using your calculations and the 3 months lagering I mentioned, it would cost about a box of beer.

That was my point. Unless you had quite a few cubes in there you're doubling or tripling the cost of a batch, just to get it a little bit better. I believe this is a significant point for a thread about someone new to making lagers and being told they must "lager".

Gelatine, polyclar and a filter. Done. I'm not saying it's the right way ... just another way. And the commercial way.

Oh, and 14,000W? Very impressive.

Yer but Nick, my chesty is a normal sized chesty (easily fits a 30lt ferementer with no wasted space). If I was to use my 1200lt one, which fits 3 fermenters, it would still only cost $30 to run for 3 months. Firstly, who lagers for 3 months (Id say the flavour would be going down hill rather than up after 6 weeks)? Secondly, what good beer do you get for $30 a carton? I guess it depends on what you are trying to achieve. But realistically you are only adding $3-4 to the $30 outlay on the brew already. $34 for 2.5 cartons of GOOD beer is reasonable to me.

That said I just lager for a week to 10 days at 0deg. I have heard multiple times that one week at 0deg is the equivalent of 4 weeks at 4deg.

Big cold room was a PITA. The whole site had only 80A per phase (owner didnt want to pay for a transformer) and the three defrost heaters drew 40A each! There were also 3 other premisses on the same feed. Didnt leave much left over for the highbay lights let alone the compressor!


Fil

 

[manticle]

So you buy this for $145 to make your beer cost less?

http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=720

I get your point there are other ways to do things (and I agree) but make your argument cogent.

 

[Clutch]

Just for shits and giggles, I have a S-23 at 19 degrees right now, to see if I can make a "bowl of fruit", as our all-knowing, ever-helpful NickJD once referred to.

 

[Nick JD]

So you buy this for $145 to make your beer cost less?

http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=720

I get your point there are other ways to do things (and I agree) but make your argument cogent.

No. I paid far, far less than that.

Sorry, Ross!

 

[manticle]

Did you pay far, far less than a box of urquell or what it costs to run a fridge for 3-9 weeks?

 

[Nick JD]

Did you pay far, far less than a box of urquell or what it costs to run a fridge for 3-9 weeks?

I have seven fridges, and two deep freezers dedicated to making beer as good as the commercial offerings.

It costs me more in ingredients and electricity before I've even factored in the hundreds of hours this addiction hobby owes me, than just buying great beer from Dans ... but we live in hope, don't we?

One day my beer will be as obsessively good as my obsession to make it good.

EDIT: nah - I just make cheap, good piss. Screw lagering it for months. And the filter cost me a case and a half of PUs. But I hardly ever use it as I prefer rehydrated powdered pigskin FTW.

Expensive homebrewing isn't an oxymoron, it's moronic.

 

[Clutch]

So the more you spend on making your beer, the dumber you are?
Got it.

 

[kelbygreen]

So the more you spend on making your beer, the dumber you are?
Got it.

classic

 

[Nick JD]

I put gold flakes in my lagers.

 

[kelbygreen]

If you do a good lager then I would suggest to let it come into its own. Its hard and time consuming. But if you have a spare keg and your kegorator is running anyway it will make it more efficient. As the added thermal mass will mean it will turn on less. This means you use less electricity then normal. I have 2 kegs so its hard for me but I usually have a fridge for fermenting and one for CC or I just ferment and let it settle with controller off and filter into the keg to chill.

 

[manticle]

I have seven fridges, and two deep freezers dedicated to making beer as good as the commercial offerings.

It costs me more in ingredients and electricity before I've even factored in the hundreds of hours this addiction hobby owes me, than just buying great beer from Dans ... but we live in hope, don't we?

One day my beer will be as obsessively good as my obsession to make it good.

EDIT: nah - I just make cheap, good piss. Screw lagering it for months. And the filter cost me a case and a half of PUs. But I hardly ever use it as I prefer rehydrated powdered pigskin FTW.

Expensive homebrewing isn't an oxymoron, it's moronic.

I'm not sure I follow too well.

If you're saying (as you seemed to be in the first instance) that there are alternatives to sticking something in the cold for a long time, then yes, I agree. There are.

That point makes sense and needs no further elucidation.

Comparing the cost of whichever method to a box of something commercial seems a bit ridiculous. Stick it in the fridge. Run it through a filter. Do whatever works for you (and multiple methods can work). You like pigskin and filters, I like set and forget in the fridge for 3 weeks while I concentrate on making/fermenting/conditioning/bottling 4 or 5 other beers. Cartons of commercial beer are irrelevant.

I also disagree with the last sentence, even though my system is pretty cheap and easy (maybe less than your stovetop but I also don't keg or filter). I'm not Mr HERMS. However, I make beer because I enjoy it. I also make bacon, sausage and pancetta from time to time and while it might, possibly end up a touch cheaper per serve if I actually calculated (I haven't) I buy larger amounts of meat than usual at once (bigger outlay), spend a hell of a lot of time preparing the food (fair bit of work turning 4 kg into sausage using a piping bag) and eat it far quicker than I normally would, making economy an irrelevance.

Am I moronic for enjoying a hobby?

 

[Nick JD]

Am I moronic for enjoying a hobby?

Only a moron would ask that question.

 

[manticle]

Yes but I'm a moron for other reasons.

 

[sim]

...is lager moronic?

 

[cam89brewer]

...is lager moronic?

No that is a special ingredient that only certain people to choose to add to their lagers. :lol: