My First Lager

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mattyra

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Hi All,

I have been brewing for a while now but have only ever done Ales with some great success.

I have decided that it's time that I use a real Lager yeast. I purchased the recommended recipe:
- A can of Coopers Pilsner
- 500g Malt and
- 300g Dextrose.

I have got some temperature control so will be fermenting around the 10C mark. My concerns are mainly is that I have heard about diacetyl and lagering. Wondering if anyone had any experience in any of this.

What I was planning on doing after some reading was, to brew the kit to the recipe for 2 weeks (or till fermentation is finished) at 10C. After that I will raise the temperature to 20C for a week (I believe this is a d-rest, please correct me if I am wrong).

Then I was thinking of kegging after that and then storing it at 3C for one or 2 months (depends on how eager I get).

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks in advance
 
From my reading a D rest is best done when the available sugars are 75% fermented, that way the yeast is still active and you will need just 48 hours to do the D rest and finish primary fermentation. As an example I'm just finishing a D rest for a Vienna, the SG was 1.048, I checked the gravity each day until it hit 1.020 then upped the temp by 3-5 degrees. It's now at 1.011. In your situation Mattyra if you have pitched enough yeast and you have held primary temp for two weeks then the yeast should have done it's job. No need to go so high on temp either, just a few degrees above fermentation temp is okay. You will also need to pitch double the yeast that you have been using. Good luck.
 
When I do lagers with s-23 I pitch at 20deg and ferment at 15. Got two lagers in right now with s-189 and doing the same thing. Never done a d rest yet and all my lagers have come out quite clean. What yeast you using?

When fermentation is done I crash chill for a week and bulk prime and bottle at 2deg.

I do find that most of the dried yeasts ferment very clean, s-23, 34/70, 04 and 05, and even ale yeasts at low temps can match lagers.

Yet to play with liquid yeast which I understand will add better to the flavour.

Cheers.
 
Thanks Guys.

roverfj1200 - I am currently using the yeast that is in the kit (7g of lager yeast).

razz - I guess I should purchase some more yeast then. I will see if I can get the partner to head to the LHBS to get some more yeast (was hoping at putting this on tonight). The only issue is the LHBS is roughly 40km away and I work when he is open.

I will ask the partner and hopefully she is able to go otherwise I might just have to under pitch (create a starter) and check it when it gets around the 1.018 mark to bump up the temp.

Should I just bump up the temp to 15C instead of 20C?

Thanks
 
Thanks Guys.

roverfj1200 - I am currently using the yeast that is in the kit (7g of lager yeast).

razz - I guess I should purchase some more yeast then. I will see if I can get the partner to head to the LHBS to get some more yeast (was hoping at putting this on tonight). The only issue is the LHBS is roughly 40km away and I work when he is open.

I will ask the partner and hopefully she is able to go otherwise I might just have to under pitch (create a starter) and check it when it gets around the 1.018 mark to bump up the temp.

Should I just bump up the temp to 15C instead of 20C?

Thanks

Bung your yeast into a starter of 500ml water(room temp-boiled and cooled)/50gm dex or ldm, cover with foil/glad wrap and then stir it up as often as
you can for the next 48hrs, then bump into another 500ml mix(1 litre total) doing the same for 48 hrs. Should get you closer to a pitchable amount.
Mix up on saturday/sunday and pitch your mix directly to your fermenter--ensure sanitation is spot on.....will be a much closer pitch rate to what you want.
 
Bung your yeast into a starter of 500ml water(room temp-boiled and cooled)/50gm dex or ldm, cover with foil/glad wrap and then stir it up as often as
you can for the next 48hrs, then bump into another 500ml mix(1 litre total) doing the same for 48 hrs. Should get you closer to a pitchable amount.
Mix up on saturday/sunday and pitch your mix directly to your fermenter--ensure sanitation is spot on.....will be a much closer pitch rate to what you want.

I might try that. I have tried it a couple of times with Ales, but I assume I can use the same temperatures or do I put it in the empty fermenting fridge.

Its a pain not living really close to a LHBS, I have to order most things like yeast online.
 
make your starter at room temp..18-23c
put your brew somewhere cooler..10-15c



I know your pain with LHBS....
I have 2 hours travel, no choice but post, makes things a bit pricier.
 
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