Lagering

[JWB]

Just a quick question ...Guys :huh:

Just for an experiment I put down a Coopers Baverian lager with one of Coopers No2 Brew enhancer kits.

The OG was 1050 and it was fermented at 18C for 6 days then racked into a 2nd fermentor .
At this stage after racking I tasted a sample and decided it was nothing special so I decided to beaf up the hops a bit buy throwing in 50g of tettanang hops tied into a sterilized stocking leg. The SG at this stage was 1020
I then left it to ferment out and lager at room temp..somewhere between 5Cand 10 C...

My plan was to let it sit and lager for a month or more then keg and sample..
Its 2 weeks since I racked it to the 2nd fermentor and its still bubbling throught the air lock every 5 minutes or so..
I thought it would have been too cold for the yeast to work at those cooler temps..I used the original Coopers yeast,,

Any thoughts???

JWB :chug:

 

[Justin]

Gee at those ambient temps you could have used a real lager yeast. But it is possible that it's still fermenting albeit bit slowly. Take another gravity reading and you should be able to get an idea why it's still bubbling. Could even be the changes in temperature.

I reckon it's probably fine. But you really need that gravity reading to know what it's doing.

Cheers, Justin

As a side note, I froze my lager the other day. Actually three whole kegs of beer. I now have 3X 18L ice blocks. Luckily my lager was nearing its lagering phase (kind of, it's been 3 weeks) because no doubt the yeast didn't like it much. Oh well, I wonder how long it will take them to thaw out in this lovely warm Tassie weather.

 

[Trough Lolly]

G'day JWB,
I love my Bavarian Lagers - can't make enough of them!!

You are lagering just fine - the key to making a goodun is to not rush the whole thing - after all the Germans used to lager their brew in the stock shed up on the hills for the whole of winter! And they had none of the fancy gear that we use - mind you, I can't vouch for the taste of those brews
1.050 as an SG is in the zone, perhaps a tad light for me, but I prefer mine with a bit more alcohol although thats not terribly true to style, as I'm sure PoMo would point out if he read this!
18C is ok for the dry kit yeast - its on the warm side for a true lager strain like the #2124 Bohemian yeast or the #2206 Bavarian Lager strain but lets not get too anal here!
I would have left it in primary for a few more days - some advocate racking at high krausen, some suggest to rouse and leave for another week, some say rack and let it work itself out in cold secondary...Whatever lights your wick - I prefer to have it in primary for at least 9 days, then rack and cold condition in secondary for at least 3 weeks at around 4C in the fridge, lower if I can get it there...
Racking to secondary at 6 days means there is still heaps of yeast in suspension and dry hopping it as you did will often stir up the yeast into further fermentation of the more difficult fermentables that take a bit longer for the yeast to go through.
Don't freak out if you smell sulphur after a long stint in cold secondary - its the yeast doing its thing - I've read that the cold temps and increased acidity will cause tannins, proteins and sulphur compounds to come out of solution and drop out of the beer - which is why we lager it to improve the overall condition of the beer. I always make sure that I rack the beer off secondary and into another fermenter for bulk priming before bottling - in your case, its straight into the keg!
Good luck and be patient - the rewards are worth it!
Cheers,
TL