Ok so just curious...say you were to make a lager, ferment it for 2 weeks, raise temp for 3 days for your d-rest, lower temps for lagering, however only lager for say 2 weeks. What would be the downside of the shortened lagering besides it possibly not being as clear? Thinking about doing this but not sure what might happen.
Lagering time
- Thread starter seckert
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timpoulsen
Mongo
Read this article.
http://brulosophy.com/methods/lager-method/
http://brulosophy.com/methods/lager-method/
seckert
Well-Known Member
That is a great article and I can't argue with any of it! I guess I will be kegging my lager sometime this weekend! The next lager I make I might try to stick to his exact schedule and see what happens. Have you made a lager utilizing this schedule?
I did my first (only) lager with that method, and was very happy with the results. Since I haven't done any traditional lagering, I can't compare.
Brew on
Natdavis777
Well-Known Member
My only issue is assuming you d-rest after 2 weeks. D-rest when the beer says to. After is attenuated 80% or so is when to raise the temps. I like to do this when the krausen is dropping (both ales and lagers for safe measure). If you only plan on lagering for 2 weeks, consider adding gelatin to the mix. I did so on my last lager (used Cali Lager) and went grain to glass with really good clarity in 4 weeks.
seckert
Well-Known Member
I'm more concerned with the flavor than the clarity. I'm sure if it isn't the clearest when it goes into the keg it will clear up in a couple weeks. How was the flavor going grain to glass in 4 weeks?
Natdavis777
Well-Known Member
It was good. I still fermented mid 50s and it was done and d rested after two weeks. Added gelatin and lagered for another two weeks then carbed.
FredTheNuke
Well-Known Member
I find when I skip the D rest I need 4-6 weeks at 36F for the beer to clean itself up.
Now if I pitch at 75F (fresh off my chiller after the boil) in a chest freezer set to 52F, ferment for 7 days at 52F, then raise to 68F with a small 200 watt heater in the chest freezer for 3 more days, then crash to 36F, rack to secondary (corny keg usually as secondary) with gelatin finings added and let sit for a week. Then rack to fresh keg through a 5 micron beer filter and carbonate for a week at 36F. By the end of this process the beer is Excellent! Total of about 24 or so days. Of course the beer continues to improve as it is on the tap proving that those 6 week lagers to help but the beer is drinkable before that - and of course much better than any BMC I might have drank otherwise!
Now if I pitch at 75F (fresh off my chiller after the boil) in a chest freezer set to 52F, ferment for 7 days at 52F, then raise to 68F with a small 200 watt heater in the chest freezer for 3 more days, then crash to 36F, rack to secondary (corny keg usually as secondary) with gelatin finings added and let sit for a week. Then rack to fresh keg through a 5 micron beer filter and carbonate for a week at 36F. By the end of this process the beer is Excellent! Total of about 24 or so days. Of course the beer continues to improve as it is on the tap proving that those 6 week lagers to help but the beer is drinkable before that - and of course much better than any BMC I might have drank otherwise!
Brulosopher
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Flavor is hugely a function of fine particulates dropping out of solution, hence the traditional long lagering phases. Using the method I wrote about will produce an excellent lager in less than a month, easy, I've done in multiple times... add some gelatin in the mix and you'll be sitting on commercial bright beer in 2-3 weeks! This is something I've been, ahem, exBEERimenting with for the last few months and without giving too much away...
IT IS F*CKING AWESOME!!
IT IS F*CKING AWESOME!!
FredTheNuke
Well-Known Member
Flavor is hugely a function of fine particulates dropping out of solution, hence the traditional long lagering phases. Using the method I wrote about will produce an excellent lager in less than a month, easy, I've done in multiple times... add some gelatin in the mix and you'll be sitting on commercial bright beer in 2-3 weeks! This is something I've been, ahem, exBEERimenting with for the last few months and without giving too much away...
IT IS F*CKING AWESOME!!
Your process is quite close to mine! Cool Beans - we must be onto something.
