lager before FG or after?

[soggycd]

My third lager is fermenting right now, and I am still rather unclear on when to begin lagering. Good old How to Brew says to drop to lager temp when there are still a few gravity points left, presumably so the lager yeast, which reputably still metabolize at low temps, have something to eat while they continue to refine the beer.

But it seems like all the forums I read say that once the temp is dropped, even lager yeast will still go dormant/inactive so its necessary to reach final gravity before lagering. But if this is the case, what is the point of lagering? Is it not so the magical lager yeast can continue to metabolize off flavors at low temps without producing the esters associated with higher temps?

Maybe somebody can clearly explicate what exactly happens during lagering? Everything I read always seems to be rather suggestive and subjective.

 

[adamshershner]

Read through this
I was recently curious about the same thing, this thread had all the answers I needed! :rockin:

 

[soggycd]

Read through this
I was recently curious about the same thing, this thread had all the answers I needed! :rockin:

Again, all I see here are people saying what time tables they prefer to use, but nothing really to answer my above questions.

 

[Yooper]

Again, all I see here are people saying what time tables they prefer to use, but nothing really to answer my above questions.

You will want to lager after FG is reached, as the FG is reached at or during the diacetyl rest. Then the beer is racked, and lagering begun.

 

[Yooper]

Mostly, during lagering the cold causes polyphenols to drop out, giving a crisper finish. This 'smooths' out the beer, and clears it as well and makes any harshness fade to a crisp finish.

 

[soggycd]

So is it really necessary then to lager approx 1 week for every 10 gravity points, if all you're looking for is clarity? Seems like beer is usually pretty darn clear after crashing for only 1 week.. lager and ales alike.

 

[Roundhouse]

I have my own personal technique that I use for all of my lagers. I admittedly do most things a bit differently than others. I ferment all of my lagers in the 40's. I've gone as low as 40° but generally try to hold 48°. If I don't have yeast from a previous batch to pitch, I'll propagate a starter at 48° to get it used to working there. I pitch when the wort has cooled to 48°. When I'm racking to the primary from the kettle, I'll take a small sample of wort and yeast in a flask and will let it sit fermenting on a stir plate at room temperature for a few days to see what my f.g. will be. When the primary fermentation gets down to within 10% of the f.g. I'll transfer it straight into a keg that has a spunding valve set to the desired pressure. Since most of the fermentation is done, there is no worry about anything clogging the valve. Generally getting to this point takes about 3 weeks. I don't move the beer off of the yeast during this time. I don't get any off flavors. I rarely even need a diacetyl rest. After a week in the keg I'll chill the keg down to about 34-35 for around two weeks. I'll remove the spunding valve and will take a sample. The beer has naturally carbonated at this point (assuming the keg initially sealed) so I'll let the sample sit for a while before taking a hydrometer reading. It is typically at f.g. at this point. I'll either blow off any sediment in the keg or will loosely filter depending on what I made and want from the finished product although I'm favoring filtering more and more. Total time is about 6 weeks. It's slow but it results in some very nice beer.