Saflager 23

[Flagg]

Hi,
A while back I tried my first temperature controlled lager. I got a Black Rock Dry lager and bought a sachet of Saflager 23 for the ferment. We have an old fridge that we don't use much any more and I found that I can set it to regulate at 12degC. Mixed it up and everything seemed fine, I was getting a slow but steady ferment. After about two weeks all activity seemed to have stoped. So I checked the SG which had come down to 1.020 from an OG of 1.045. Not ready yet so I left it another two weeks and checked the SG again. 1.015 and still not ready. As Christmas was comming up I had to remove it from the fridge and let it finish off at the room temperature of 20-25. This finished very quickly and I bottled and have now started drinking the beer. A little early I know but I couldn't wait.
The tast is good and it's definitly a dry lager, but I it's not a smooth as I was trying for, proably due to finishing it off at the higher temperatures. Does any one have any idears about why it was taking so long in the fridge. I belive that Saflager 23 will ferment happly between 9-15degC and so 12 should have been fine. I would have loved to let it ferment out in the fridge but at the rate it was going it could have taken 5-6 weeks. And that just seems wrong. Any idears.

Flagg.

 

[mikem108]

All the usual advice for doing lagers applies here, one pack of saflager is a bit on the low side, try two or three packs of yeast next time. Rehydrate and pitch at correct temp, airate the wort as much as possible!

 

[colinw]

Agree about pitching rates. For any of the Saflager yeasts I pitch at double the ale rate, eg. 2 sachets in a normal 20-24 litre batch.

One thing I've found with both W-34/70 and S-23 is that they seem cleaner at the higher end of their temperature range, around 12C for 34/70 and 14C for S-23. With both yeasts I've had strange fruity esters when fermented at the cool end, but clean lagers at the higher end.

S-189 seems to be clean at any temperature, even up into the mid teens.

 

[Flagg]

Thanks for the advice. I hadn't thought about the ammount of yeast pitched. As an alternative could you achive the same results by building the yeast up a bit in a starter?
Flagg.

 

[Josh]

Yes. I try to make a starter whenever possible. Good fermentation through better pitching rates and correct temps has seen the greatest improvement in my brewing.