SouthernGorilla
Well-Known Member
I'm posting this for feedback and in case somebody else wants to try it before I can get started. I'm going to lager a mead.
The plan is to take a one-gallon batch of a plain "show" mead and use lager yeast at lager temperatures with the lager period after the primary. Do it exactly the way you would if you were making a lager beer.
I don't brew beer at all, let alone lagers. So I don't have any of the necessary equipment. I plan to buy a cheap styrofoam cooler and use gel packs to maintain the proper temperature inside. I'm even going to equip my primary with a thermowell to best monitor the temperature. I'll have to practice maintaining the temperature with water or something before I start the experiment so I know I'll be able to do it.
The catch, though, is that just lagering a batch of mead won't tell me much. Ideally I'd need to also run everything at ale temperatures to compare the differences. But there's no single yeast that can operate equally well at both temperatures. The best I could hope for is to find an ale yeast with properties identical to the lager yeast just to see how they compare head-to-head.
If anybody has any thoughts on how to hone the experiment to make it more accurate please chime in. I'm especially open to yeast suggestions. Particularly how to find a matched ale/lager pair.
The plan is to take a one-gallon batch of a plain "show" mead and use lager yeast at lager temperatures with the lager period after the primary. Do it exactly the way you would if you were making a lager beer.
I don't brew beer at all, let alone lagers. So I don't have any of the necessary equipment. I plan to buy a cheap styrofoam cooler and use gel packs to maintain the proper temperature inside. I'm even going to equip my primary with a thermowell to best monitor the temperature. I'll have to practice maintaining the temperature with water or something before I start the experiment so I know I'll be able to do it.
The catch, though, is that just lagering a batch of mead won't tell me much. Ideally I'd need to also run everything at ale temperatures to compare the differences. But there's no single yeast that can operate equally well at both temperatures. The best I could hope for is to find an ale yeast with properties identical to the lager yeast just to see how they compare head-to-head.
If anybody has any thoughts on how to hone the experiment to make it more accurate please chime in. I'm especially open to yeast suggestions. Particularly how to find a matched ale/lager pair.