Warmer Lager Temperatures

Herm brews said:
At the homebrew club meeting that I attended tonight, there was a used 5 gallon corny keg that was given away as a raffle prize. The guy seated right across the table from me was the winner of said prize.
So if I were to get a keg to use for lagering, how do I serve the beer or transfer it if nothing else is needed? Help me here, I see rabbits.
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Still playing with getting bottling from the keg done correctly, but you can force carbonate PET bottles with a $7 attachment that you can buy on Amazon. The initial investment is the keg, regulator, and CO2 tank. Once you have the CO2 tank, you can exchange it at a welding store. I think the 5 pounder only cost me $14 for the exchange.
I want to say the CO2 tank, regulator, Quick Connects, and picnic tap lines were around $225-250 in total. Somebody in the soda business gave me a Corny Keg.
I struggled for a couple of batches with the CO2 levels. The secret is the "set and forget" method. You are going to get all kinds of fucky answers about line length, etc. Don't worry about the picnic tap. It is fine once you learn to set and forget. It also is a week shorter to get your beer.
Make sure the keg is going to fit in the fridge. I only have a couple of inches of clearance.
 
My apologies to OP @JWR_12 for derailing this thread, hopefully you are learning some things here, like I am. For the time being, I have my grains and hops and yeast ready to go for my Vienna Garage Lager, and will proceed as planned. I will have to have a serious discussion with my wife before going the keg and refrigerator route, but I do see the possibility of a keg as brite tank as a starting point. Maybe with spunding valve, and floating dip tube, and picnic tap and ………….. rabbits, everywhere!
Thanks to all of you who are luring me ever deeper into the rabbit hole that I have so far managed to avoid for the nearly 5 years of brewing at home.
 
Herm brews said:
My apologies to OP @JWR_12 for derailing this thread, hopefully you are learning some things here, like I am. For the time being, I have my grains and hops and yeast ready to go for my Vienna Garage Lager, and will proceed as planned. I will have to have a serious discussion with my wife before going the keg and refrigerator route, but I do see the possibility of a keg as brite tank as a starting point. Maybe with spunding valve, and floating dip tube, and picnic tap and ………….. rabbits, everywhere!
Thanks to all of you who are luring me ever deeper into the rabbit hole that I have so far managed to avoid for the nearly 5 years of brewing at home.
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I think you can stick with a $50 bright tank for quite a while.

As for bottling, it depends. Putting in a fitting and valve might cost $30, but then it acts like a big, sealable, kettle. That means, same process that you use now.

Or, you can use a picnic tap ($10) and somehow get a little pressure in there so it can start siphoning. A puff of breath could be sufficient.

That is just the ears of the rabbit.
 
So one could also lager in that bright tank. Colder is better, but more time allows for warmer lagering.
 
Wheat beer I got on tap ATM herm was cold crashed and fermented and now is serving the beer.

They keg fermented in my garage in a water bucket.

Beer is great 0% oxidation.

It really is that easy:)

Oh and I've done this with lagers ...
 
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Ozarks Mountain Brew said:
I've fermented 34/70 at ale temps so man times I don't even think about it, anywhere from 60 to 70 with great results
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34/70 could easily be a "house" yeast. You make traditional lagers with it, warm lagers, pale ales, IPA's, cream ales, etc. The only beers you can't do with it are true English beers and Belgian beers.

I just made a pale ale with a similar yeast, S189 @ 65-68F and it turned out fantastic. I'm not sure I'll go back to ale yeasts for pale ales or IPA's.
 
I love that you all who have real life experience are dispelling some of the myths around brewing lagers, or other beers using ”lager” designated yeast. This is truly eye opening for me, and I thank you.
 
So here I am, 27 days into fermenting my first lager. Mashed 1 hour, starting at 153.6F and ending at 147.2.
The O.G. was 1.052, and it‘s currently at 1.011, giving almost 79% Apparent Attenuation (recipe projected F.G. 1.008). I pitched a single packet of 34/70 into 2.6 gallons of wort at ~61F at start. The fermenter has not been touched until today, sitting at ambient temps varying between 56F and 60F with most of that time closer to 60F. I figured my usual 3 weeks, plus another would be sufficient time to get me to terminal gravity. Having never made any lager beer before, I don’t know if the flavor and aroma of my sample are where they should be. I was hoping to brew tomorrow, after bottling this beer today, but now I have elected to give the fermenter a little warm up with a heating pad. Unless I go out and buy another fermenter, I won’t be brewing until this fermenter is empty. Does anybody have any suggestions they would like to share?
 
Herm brews said:
So here I am, 27 days into fermenting my first lager. Mashed 1 hour, starting at 153.6F and ending at 147.2.
The O.G. was 1.052, and it‘s currently at 1.011, giving almost 79% Apparent Attenuation (recipe projected F.G. 1.008). I pitched a single packet of 34/70 into 2.6 gallons of wort at ~61F at start. The fermenter has not been touched until today, sitting at ambient temps varying between 56F and 60F with most of that time closer to 60F. I figured my usual 3 weeks, plus another would be sufficient time to get me to terminal gravity. Having never made any lager beer before, I don’t know if the flavor and aroma of my sample are where they should be. I was hoping to brew tomorrow, after bottling this beer today, but now I have elected to give the fermenter a little warm up with a heating pad. Unless I go out and buy another fermenter, I won’t be brewing until this fermenter is empty. Does anybody have any suggestions they would like to share?
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my only suggestion is once kegged, let it set for a week at least if not more, it will taste better
 
Ozarks Mountain Brew said:
my only suggestion is once kegged, let it set for a week at least if not more, it will taste better
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I had planned to bottle condition this beer for a couple/few weeks, then lager in the cold garage for another few weeks to a month. In your experience with 34/70, does it achieve better than 80% Apparent Attenuation, since I see the average for it is 83%?
 
Herm brews said:
So here I am, 27 days into fermenting my first lager. Mashed 1 hour, starting at 153.6F and ending at 147.2.
The O.G. was 1.052, and it‘s currently at 1.011, giving almost 79% Apparent Attenuation (recipe projected F.G. 1.008). I pitched a single packet of 34/70 into 2.6 gallons of wort at ~61F at start. The fermenter has not been touched until today, sitting at ambient temps varying between 56F and 60F with most of that time closer to 60F. I figured my usual 3 weeks, plus another would be sufficient time to get me to terminal gravity. Having never made any lager beer before, I don’t know if the flavor and aroma of my sample are where they should be. I was hoping to brew tomorrow, after bottling this beer today, but now I have elected to give the fermenter a little warm up with a heating pad. Unless I go out and buy another fermenter, I won’t be brewing until this fermenter is empty. Does anybody have any suggestions they would like to share?
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In my experience, Lagers taste and smell different just out of the fermenter. There may be some odd odors or flavors, usually not very strong. These dissipate with time.

If you can, take another gravity reading to see if it is done. If not, let it go some more. Warmer is a good thing, maybe 5-10 F warmer than it has been - that'll be your D-rest.
 
Herm brews said:
I had planned to bottle condition this beer for a couple/few weeks, then lager in the cold garage for another few weeks to a month. In your experience with 34/70, does it achieve better than 80% Apparent Attenuation, since I see the average for it is 83%?
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I wouldn't worry about the attenuation that much, 80 is all I get most of the time, sometimes it will even stall unless you swirl it
 
If it has been sitting for 27 days, I assume that is it. I kegged mine after 14 days in the fermenter and lagered in the keg. They are noticeably better in the cold after 4 weeks and much better after 6 or 8.
You might get just a little Sulphur on the nose when you package, but it should clean up once packaged in the cold.
34/70, if pitched correctly, should ferment in the same time as an ale. It just takes longer in the keg to get the crispness to come out.
 
Since yesterday I have had a heating pad on the side of the fermenter, with a towel wrapped to hold it in place. The airlock has bubbled a bit, so maybe I can scratch out another point or two before packaging. As patient as I am, I really don’t want to tie up my keg for a few months, so this beer will be bottled and conditioned before lagering.
 
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