Lager fermentation

[BrianL]

I took a sample last night. I'm at 1.018 (from 1.050 in 7 days) I don't think I tasted diacetyl, but not sure, a green lager has some interesting things going on in it.

I think I'm going to keep the temp down and see how that goes. The top of the beer is pretty much clear and minimal bubbling is going on, so my D-rest window may have closed anyway.

[ajdelange]

You might want to try taking a little of the beer and warming it over a stove, alcohol lamp, Bunsen burner or whatever. If acetolactate is present in appreciable quantity it will convert to diacetyl and you will be able to smell it.

[BrianL]

That's interesting.

I listened to the Brew Strong on lagering again yesterday and they convinced me to abandon the old school German philospohy (at least for this batch) and just let the fermentation finish out and then crash it down to lagering temps. I raised the temp up to 60 just to make sure they clean up well.

Taking the safe route on the first lager. Plenty of time to play in the future.

[BrianL]

An update on my lagers if anyone is interested.

The procedure I used for my first couple batches
Chill to 44
Rack off of the cold break
02 for 2 minutes
Pitch at 45
Let it rise to 50 over 2-3 days
Ferment at 50 until about 2/3rds complete or when krausen starts to fall back in.
Ramp it up to 60 and leave it until activity is done
Crash to 35 for a couple days and keg

My helles started at 1.050 fermented to 1.014, fermented very clean, good tasting beer. I did have some DMS, even though I boiled for 90 minutes and chilled with my whirlpool chiller....so that's a bit of a mystery.

I used the Helles yeast to ferment my dopplebock. I used 300 ml of slurry and O2 for about 2:15. Started at 1.086 and finished at 1.028, but tastes really nice even with the high FG. I did fast ferment test and it finished at 1.020, so not the most fermentable wort and fermentation could have been better. Next time I think I'll mash a little lower than the 156 I used and I may have underpitched a bit for the high gravity. My slurry kept compacting and on brewday I had a little less than I thought.