Stalling lager fermentation

[WesternBrew]

I'm fermenting my first lager. I raised the temp to 64 F after primary finished for diacetyl rest. Now I'm dropping to to lager temps.

I've been setting my temp controller down 2 degrees every morning. I just thought to check if the airlock was still bubbling today. As far as I can tell it's not. Did I put my yeast to sleep? Should I raise temp and agitate to get them going again, and then drop the temp more slowly?

When I set my controller the probe is all the way at the bottom of the thermowell. It will turn the freezer on one degree higher than it is set and then turn off once it reaches the set temp. However it drops about 2 1/2 degrees further after that. So after I set a new temp it drops almost 4 degrees over 2 1/2 hours. Is this too much of a change too fast?

Thanks

 

[The542]

If your hit final gravity before you raised temp for the D-rest, bubbling (or not) should not matter.

After I d-rest, I transfer to the keg and lager closed for a month or more, no problems.

 

[Falcon3]

Depends on your FG.

IF you reached your FG during Diacetyl rest, you don't need to worry about slowly cranking the temp down, you can do a cold crash and go as fast as your freezer wants.

IF you did a diacetyl rest and the beer isn't done yet, (you've still got a few points to go)- then going down slow is what you want, and yes, your freezer might be shocking the yeast by dropping a bit too far and then going back up- you may end up with a slightly stuck fermentation.

I prefer to go the other way- i start at 48, hold for 1 week or until the yeast is almost done, then slowly start raising 2 degrees per day until 60 (should take 5-6 days- or 2 weeks in primary)- Then CRASH it as fast as possible- shouldn't leave any off flavors.

The reason a lot of traditional methods say to crank down slowly is so the yeast can finish the fermentation- if you've already reached FG, you've got nothing to worry about- if the mass of fermentation happened at the correct temp (48-52) you shouldn't have any off flavors after the diacetyl rest anyway.

 

[WesternBrew]

If your hit final gravity before you raised temp for the D-rest, bubbling (or not) should not matter.

I was using the lagering method in Dave Miller's homebrewing guide, which has you drop it to lager temps in the fermentor when it's about 2/3 the way to FG. I haven't actually taken a gravity reading, so maybe that's my next step just to see where it's at. I was kind of guessing by the airlock bubbling when primary had finished.

Seems like I wouldn't risk stalling the fermentation doing it the way you are. Do you drop the temp incrementally after you transfer to the keg or just one shot down to lager temps?

Thanks

 

[The542]

I was using the lagering method in Dave Miller's homebrewing guide, which has you drop it to lager temps in the fermentor when it's about 2/3 the way to FG. I haven't actually taken a gravity reading, so maybe that's my next step just to see where it's at. I was kind of guessing by the airlock bubbling when primary had finished.

Seems like I wouldn't risk stalling the fermentation doing it the way you are. Do you drop the temp incrementally after you transfer to the keg or just one shot down to lager temps?

Thanks

I shoot it straight down. I assumed when you said primary was done, you had confirmed it was done fermenting. I start the d-rest at about 3/4 through fermentation and raise to 60 (from 50) and confirm it finished out before transferring to the keg.

 

[WesternBrew]

Thanks Falcon.

I probably raised for d-rest later in the fermentation than I intended anyway. So without checking I would bet it's close to FG although I'll check to be sure. Good to know that I can drop it fast after it's reached FG and still get the good affects of lagering.

 

[Falcon3]

No Problem, it seems like a lot of people are doing the "modified" approach to lagering to speed up production. I can tell you I've now done both ways, and I can't contribute any flavor differences between the two, but slowly cranking up the temp to D-rest (60) then crashing produced my Pils in about half the time that the "traditional" way did. When you've only got one ferm. fridge, it helps to make these lagers a little faster.