Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Lager beer

I am brewing a lager and will ferment at the appropriate temperatures for the first time ever using my newly acquired lagering fridge with a temperature controlling device.

I'm brewing a lager kit from Midwest supply. Here is the ingredient list:

6 lbs pilsner DME
2 oz. Munich
8 oz. Caramel 10°L

Saaz, Saaz, Saaz (3 ounces)
Wyeast 2001 Urquell Lager yeast

I'm boiling it right now.

For the fermentation, I'm going to start the temperature at 62°F for a day and then drop it down to 52°F for the bulk of the fermentation. After about 10 days, I will raise the temperature to 66°F for 2 days to drive off any diacetyl. After which, I will transfer to a secondary and lager it at 40°F for 6 weeks.

Wish me luck.

4 comments:

Steve said...

Good luck! A well executed lager is a thing of beauty, and the satisfaction of having total control over the fermentation temperature is awesome.

Chemgeek said...

Thank you Steve.

Of course, the biggest difficulty in doing a lager is finding the patience to wait 6+ weeks to drink the beer.

I'll find the strength somewhere.

Flash said...

I was wondering about the "lager schedule" and was pleased to see your plan here. On the precipice of the "lager plunge" here...

Nilo said...

Hi Steve, I'm planning my first lager and wondering how fast you plan to drop and increase temperatures as you go from one step to the next. I heard you need to be slow to not stress the yeast, but I wonder how slow.
Please check my blog when you have a minute, beertech.blogspot.com

Thanks,

Nilo