I am fermenting my first Lager, a Munich Helles, with Omega 114 Bayern Lager and have some questions about my fermentation.
I pitched a 3L decanted starter to ferment roughly 6 gallons of 1.053 OG wort. Pitched at 49 and fermented around 51-52 for 9 days and then slowly raised the temp to about 64 for a D-rest when the ferment was about 75% complete. Held the beer at 64 for a week to let it finish. After about 16 days in the primary, I decided to keg the beer to begin lagering as all activity from the airlock had ceased.
It wasn't until after the beer was kegged that I realized my beer was at 1.018, about 5 gravity points high from what it should be. I know I am in the ballpark, but I'm disappointed because it's sweet for the style and I wanted a drier finishing gravity.
Is there any chance that if I hold the temp of the kegged beer in the mid 50's that it would continue to ferment a few gravity points over time, or should I just begin to lager and hope for the best? I was also considering pitching a packet of dry yeast into the keg to see if that would help the beer dry out a bit, but I have read mixed reviews on this method.
I suspect that oxygenation of my wort is contributing to my fermentation woes as I only aerated for 5 mins with an aquarium pump. Obviously there could be any other number of variables impacting the fermentation, but as this is my first lager fermentation I am looking for advice on whether to try and drive the fermentation to a lower finishing gravity or just to hope it mellows out during the lagering process. Thanks!
I pitched a 3L decanted starter to ferment roughly 6 gallons of 1.053 OG wort. Pitched at 49 and fermented around 51-52 for 9 days and then slowly raised the temp to about 64 for a D-rest when the ferment was about 75% complete. Held the beer at 64 for a week to let it finish. After about 16 days in the primary, I decided to keg the beer to begin lagering as all activity from the airlock had ceased.
It wasn't until after the beer was kegged that I realized my beer was at 1.018, about 5 gravity points high from what it should be. I know I am in the ballpark, but I'm disappointed because it's sweet for the style and I wanted a drier finishing gravity.
Is there any chance that if I hold the temp of the kegged beer in the mid 50's that it would continue to ferment a few gravity points over time, or should I just begin to lager and hope for the best? I was also considering pitching a packet of dry yeast into the keg to see if that would help the beer dry out a bit, but I have read mixed reviews on this method.
I suspect that oxygenation of my wort is contributing to my fermentation woes as I only aerated for 5 mins with an aquarium pump. Obviously there could be any other number of variables impacting the fermentation, but as this is my first lager fermentation I am looking for advice on whether to try and drive the fermentation to a lower finishing gravity or just to hope it mellows out during the lagering process. Thanks!