Lagering

[Will2233]

G'day,
I have a question regarding lagering.
I don't normally brew lagers and have brewed one, all grain.
When lagering at low temperatures do you have the lager under pressure or it doesn't matter?
William

 

[philrob]

I've never brewed under pressure, never lagered under pressure, nor will I ever do so.
Just go with what you can do with your system.
I don't believe there is anything to be gained by lagering under pressure. Others may believe differently, but my opinion is that i don't bother.

 

[Will2233]

Thanks for your reply.
I didn't think you would have to store it under pressure, but better to ask.
William

 

[Half-baked]

Storing under pressure is different to fermenting under pressure.

I never do the latter but always the former.

I assume you’re planning to have transferred to a keg at this point? You would want to move off the yeast for lagering, as old yeast can rupture and give off flavours. This is made more likely by pressure.

If you have kegged, I would absolutely pressurise. Doesn’t need to be fully carbonated, but you should pressurise enough to make sure the lid, poppets, etc are airtight. Pressure helps hold them in place tightly

 

[yankinoz]

A very detailed discussion of lagering in German breweries and at home is in https://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Fermenting_Lagers.

He states that commercial breweries cold condition under pressure and transfer to bottles and kegs after the process is complete. For home brewers who bottle or keg, he covers various options but stresses the need to prevent any prolonged contact with oxygen. For keggers that means purging with CO2. For bottle carbonation it means having active yeast present at bottling.

I've bottled Oktoberfests after cold fermentation, using dextrose for carbonation, left at 18 degrees for 12 days and then chilled for cold conditioning. My uncontrolled taste tests found the beer improved for up to five months. Sadly, I no longer have the requisite storage capacity.

 

[jtgoral]

My kegerator holds 4 kegs and the temperature is set at 52F (11C). As long as there is still beer in the keg this beer is lagered at 11C. Ales are lagered, too. I have only 3 taps, so it takes usually ~1 month for the newest beer to get connected to the tap. This way my lagering time is minimum 1 month

 

[Will2233]

Thank you for your replies,
I have placed the keg into a fridge and have purged it with CO2.
Its been there for 2 weeks now and if I'm a patient boy I'll leave it for anther 2 weeks.
William

 

[MHB]

My kegerator holds 4 kegs and the temperature is set at 52F (11C). As long as there is still beer in the keg this beer is lagered at 11C. Ales are lagered, too. I have only 3 taps, so it takes usually ~1 month for the newest beer to get connected to the tap. This way my lagering time is minimum 1 month

Lagering is a bit more complex, but one part of Lagering is called "Chill Proofing".
At low temperatures chill haze forms, when polyphenols and large proteins join up producing haze, this starts happening at around 8oC and happens faster as you get cooler all the way down to the freezing point of the beer (~-1.5oC). If you let the beer warm back above ~20oC the process reverses and the haze disappears. Well mostly over time you will build up permanent haze.
Chill proofing involves keeping the beer very cold for long enough for the haze particles to form and precipitate, the beer is then racked off the trub, or it's dumped out the bottom of a conical. Either way the trub and the clarified beer must be separated before the beer is allowed to warm up.
10-12oC is generally regarded as an ideal cellaring temperature for English Ale; it certainly isn’t a Lagering temperature. In no small part the clean crisp nature of Lager comes from the removal of the large protein and polyphenols.
Might be worth having a bit more of a look at how you make your Lagers, I think you might be impressed at the improvement you get from Lagering properly. Braukaiser is well worth a read.
Mark

 

[labels]

Lagering is a bit more complex, but one part of Lagering is called "Chill Proofing".
At low temperatures chill haze forms, when polyphenols and large proteins join up producing haze, this starts happening at around 8oC and happens faster as you get cooler all the way down to the freezing point of the beer (~-1.5oC). If you let the beer warm back above ~20oC the process reverses and the haze disappears. Well mostly over time you will build up permanent haze.
Chill proofing involves keeping the beer very cold for long enough for the haze particles to form and precipitate, the beer is then racked off the trub, or it's dumped out the bottom of a conical. Either way the trub and the clarified beer must be separated before the beer is allowed to warm up.
10-12oC is generally regarded as an ideal cellaring temperature for English Ale; it certainly isn’t a Lagering temperature. In no small part the clean crisp nature of Lager comes from the removal of the large protein and polyphenols.
Might be worth having a bit more of a look at how you make your Lagers, I think you might be impressed at the improvement you get from Lagering properly. Braukaiser is well worth a read.
Mark

Yes, you pretty much said it all MHB. The only other thing I would have said is, prior to the very cold conditioning/lagering is making sure the beer is not taken off the yeast too soon - what I call the first stage of lagering, which is making sure the yeast do a really good job of cleaning up fermentation by-products and lager yeast can do this down to quite cold temperatures. Also, to help precipitate polyphenols and unwanted proteins, use a fining agent. I use good old gelatine, one teaspoon dissolved in 500ml hot water per fermenter does the trick. I'm not vegan!