First attempt at a Lager ... any suggestions would be great!

[dogma46an2]

I'm still looking for input ... but at this point, I will probably brew a 5 gallon batch (haven't done that in years), especially given the correctly mentioned 1.070 gravity. I figure it will be better to have 5 gallons of good to great beer than 10 gallons of bad to maybe good beer. I will make sure that I pitch slightly cooler than the fermentation temp of 50 (thanks for the advise).

Now if the lager beer turns out completely horrible, I know to stick with brewing ales ... the whole "debutant" lager yeast thing has me a little scared. I know I have a good track record with the "Stripper" ale yeasts. In the end, I can always chaulk it up to the fact that I have always gotten along with the crazy women better ... at least for two or three pitches.

Thanks and keep the advise comming ... another day before I brew.

I Think if you use a white lab liquid vile , and do a 1 1/2 to 2 Gal starter i think you'll be fine ...I know on my first Lager I made a marzian i may not have spelt that right but any how i did what i said above and i kegged it . once after a few weeks i thought it was done i tapped it. the color went from amber to freaking gold ! taste like the worst rounchy butthole !? i believed it was infected . but everyone kept telling me to wait .... so i waited for like 4 months was smashed one night i had a party an had floated the other kegs so to be funny i tapped that lager ..... AND ! the color had come back to this rich amber the taste was beautiful rich with smooth malt notes an light spice creamy to the feel great head retention light blondish tan .... Lagers are a beast all their own ... but dont fear the reaper in the end it will be beer . and thy shall not waste beer

[BDawg]

My advice for a first lager is to do something that doesn't take forever to lager. Smallish lagers take long enough. Big ones (like Bocks & Doppelbock) take months and the wait is killer. Off flavors are generally more pronounced, and it really, really sucks to wait 4 or 5 months only to be dissapointed because your first attempt doesn't taste quite like you planned.

I'd suggest something like a Schwarzbier so that you 1) have a bit of roast that your first attempt can hide behind, 2) You can be drinking it in 2 or 3 months instead of having a huge wait.

Oh, and +1 on pitching a boatload of yeast.

Just my .02-

[EagleDude]

Well ... thanks for all the advise. I did just brew the 5 gallons, which really hurt on brew day since I was used to brewing 10 gallons. The yeast pitch should at least be close to advised. I will also plan on lagering for several months. So far, I have good fermentation and everything looks good ... I'm not new to brewing, just to lagers which have always scared me a bit.

The next lager is going to be a kolsh. I just heard a BN episode (drunk JZ at Joe's) where the JZ suggests brewing an american wheat with the kolsh yeast to build up the yeast for a kolsh. He did not, however, say how big the pitch should be for the wheat "Pre-beer" or the fermentation temp. Can you use a smaller pitch and ferment at the same 50 degree temp? Ferment Higher? Dare I say, Just 5 gallons to build up for a 10 gallon batch?

Once again, thanks for the advise.