lagering

[manhattanksbrewer]

Has anyone lagered in a better plastic carboy i dont have glass carboys

 

[jdauria]

I have done several lagers in a better bottle with no problems.

 

[manhattanksbrewer]

I have a question i followed directions on kit and let it ferment for 10 days and did diactel rest and before i transfered it checked gravity and it has only dropped 10 points still 30 away from target fg would it be okay to let it finish fermenting at 12celcius or what sheesh now i know why ppl hate doing lagers!!!!

 

[kblankenship11]

I'm a little concerned because it sounds like you transferred it to secondary at 10 days. This is aggressive even for ale yeast. Problem being lager is a bottom fermenting yeast, so if you racked it to secondary you basically took the wort off the majority of the yeast you had there. Being only 10 days, you still have enough in suspension that hasn't flocculated yet so it should get close to terminal gravity, but you may have trouble.

Patience is key with lagers. I wont even touch it until around 3 weeks. I'll take a gravity reading and see where it's at. If it's around 70-75% attenuated I'll move it up for diacetyl rest, if not I leave it alone until it is.

After diacetyl rest I move it to my temp controlled keezer to lager it gradually dropping temp to 33-34F. If you dont have a temperature controlled area just leave it in your basement. Best way to do it is forget that it is even there and leave it be, brew another batch and worry about that one. If you aren't patient you will end up with an off-tasting, murky, sulfer-bomb.

As for the better bottles, I have never lagered in them. But I don't see why you couldn't.

 

[movet22]

If your LHBS has cornys, I'd go that route (I try to buy them without paying for shipping whenever I can).

Just remove the gas QD from the depressurized keg, attach a 1/2'' blowoff and boom, stainless lagering for <$30.

 

[manhattanksbrewer]

I have not transfered it yet i was going to but because gravity was so high i didnt

 

[progmac]

I'm a little concerned because it sounds like you transferred it to secondary at 10 days. This is aggressive even for ale yeast. Problem being lager is a bottom fermenting yeast, so if you racked it to secondary you basically took the wort off the majority of the yeast you had there. Being only 10 days, you still have enough in suspension that hasn't flocculated yet so it should get close to terminal gravity, but you may have trouble.

Patience is key with lagers. I wont even touch it until around 3 weeks. I'll take a gravity reading and see where it's at. If it's around 70-75% attenuated I'll move it up for diacetyl rest, if not I leave it alone until it is.

i have been consistently reaching 70-75% attenuation after about 5 days fermenting around 52. 10 days for moving a lager seems okay if the brewer is paying attention. if it is done, it's done.

the OP should not be transferring as you say. it sounds like he massively underpitched.