Lager Attempt

Over The Cliff Brewing

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Established Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2019
Messages
2,051
Reaction score
5,013
Points
113
I want to take a shot at a lager. I have read, that once primary fermentation is complete, leave the beer on the yeast cake to lager at 33F - 37F for 6 to 8 weeks. I have also read that you should move the beer to a secondary to lager. What would you recommend? I'm going to brew a 2.5 gal batch. Is one pack of dry yeast enough for 2.5gals?
 
I want to take a shot at a lager. I have read, that once primary fermentation is complete, leave the beer on the yeast cake to lager at 33F - 37F for 6 to 8 weeks. I have also read that you should move the beer to a secondary to lager. What would you recommend? I'm going to brew a 2.5 gal batch. Is one pack of dry yeast enough for 2.5gals?
Flip a coin? There's no science at our scale to tell what is the "best" approach. Either will work: You're not leaving the beer on the yeast long enough for autolysis to set in nor are the yeast doing a lot other than settling during lagering. And finally, yes, one pack should be enough for 2.5 gallons.
 
Flip a coin? There's no science at our scale to tell what is the "best" approach. Either will work: You're not leaving the beer on the yeast long enough for autolysis to set in nor are the yeast doing a lot other than settling during lagering. And finally, yes, one pack should be enough for 2.5 gallons.
Thanks. The air is foggy with information.
 
Being fairly new to lager yeasts myself....I don't see any reason to leave the beer in primary after fermentation has completed. Bump up your temp for a couple of days to get everything cleaned up and bottle, IMO.
So far, in my very limited experience, at cooler temps, I have after 2 - 3 weeks (in the bottle) a much more well carbonated and drinkable beer with W-34/70 than with US-05!
 
I brew mostly lagers. There are a few things to keep in mind when brewing lagers.

1. If you brew it right, you shouldn’t need much over a 2-4 weeks of lagering. It can be sped up by the use of gelatin, but you risk oxygen ingress. If you need to lager 8 weeks to get a good beer, you probably messed up somewhere.

2. You can lager on the yeast cake. I ferment, carbonate, lager and serve from the same vessel. I transfer to a keg after 4 weeks of lagering to avoid autolysis.

3. It’s really tough to overpitch a lager. Most homebrewers underpitch lagers. There is no harm in using 2 packs of 34/70, in fact I would strongly recommend it if it’s your first lager. That would give you a +2.0 pitch. I rarely pitch below 2 billion cells/ml/ degree Plato. German brewers typically pitch very hard, 2.0-2.5. The big pitch helps the mature much quicker, plus lag times are much shorter.

4. Pitch as cold as you can. I pitch 34/70 at 44F and let it rise to 48F. Let it set there 7-9 days and if you want you raise it to 60F or you can leave it set at 48-52 for 2 weeks total. After that crash it to 32F for lagering.

There is a lot of fog out there about a lot of brewing subjects. Lagers are a little tougher than ales. Mistakes stand out with lager, so they require a little more attention. But when you get them down pat, you get used to the extra details and work. It’s worth the effort.
 
I brew mostly lagers. There are a few things to keep in mind when brewing lagers.

1. If you brew it right, you shouldn’t need much over a 2-4 weeks of lagering. It can be sped up by the use of gelatin, but you risk oxygen ingress. If you need to lager 8 weeks to get a good beer, you probably messed up somewhere.

2. You can lager on the yeast cake. I ferment, carbonate, lager and serve from the same vessel. I transfer to a keg after 4 weeks of lagering to avoid autolysis.

3. It’s really tough to overpitch a lager. Most homebrewers underpitch lagers. There is no harm in using 2 packs of 34/70, in fact I would strongly recommend it if it’s your first lager. That would give you a +2.0 pitch. I rarely pitch below 2 billion cells/ml/ degree Plato. German brewers typically pitch very hard, 2.0-2.5. The big pitch helps the mature much quicker, plus lag times are much shorter.

4. Pitch as cold as you can. I pitch 34/70 at 44F and let it rise to 48F. Let it set there 7-9 days and if you want you raise it to 60F or you can leave it set at 48-52 for 2 weeks total. After that crash it to 32F for lagering.

There is a lot of fog out there about a lot of brewing subjects. Lagers are a little tougher than ales. Mistakes stand out with lager, so they require a little more attention. But when you get them down pat, you get used to the extra details and work. It’s worth the effort.
I'm a bit confused with your #2 comment. While serving, you then move to another keg if 4 weeks have passed in the original vessel?
 
I'm a bit confused with your #2 comment. While serving, you then move to another keg if 4 weeks have passed in the original vessel?
Yeah. I ferment in a modified sanke keg. I can put 7 gallons in it, so I carb it and lager it and start drinking it after just a few days after crashing. I have to drink it down anyway to get the rest in a corny keg. The fermenter has a floating pick up, so I only draw from the top where the clearest beer is. With ales, I just serve right from the fermenter, I rarely keg those.
 
Being fairly new to lager yeasts myself....I don't see any reason to leave the beer in primary after fermentation has completed. Bump up your temp for a couple of days to get everything cleaned up and bottle, IMO.
So far, in my very limited experience, at cooler temps, I have after 2 - 3 weeks (in the bottle) a much more well carbonated and drinkable beer with W-34/70 than with US-05!
Totally agree 34/70 is a great lager yeast to cut your teeth on And great for brewers like me who bend the boundaries a very forgiving yeast and versatile I must add.
 
I'm going to use the Lallemand Diamond Lager dry yeast. I have had very good results with the Lallemand dry yeasts overall.
 
I want to take a shot at a lager. I have read, that once primary fermentation is complete, leave the beer on the yeast cake to lager at 33F - 37F for 6 to 8 weeks. I have also read that you should move the beer to a secondary to lager. What would you recommend? I'm going to brew a 2.5 gal batch. Is one pack of dry yeast enough for 2.5gals?

I don't, at most 3 weeks before I keg it to lager and I'm happy with all my lagers, but I don't expect it would hurt anything.

1 pack is plenty in my opinoin.
 

Back
Top