lagering temps

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wingsfan61
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lagering temps

Post by wingsfan61 »

My first try at a lager. Honey Pils. OG 1052 FG 1012.
The only thing I have is a somewhat cold spot, 50deg, in my basement. I did move it to an unheated garage, it was there for about 3 weeks, 30-40 deg temps. had to bring it inside last week cause it was below 0 and heard frozen beer wasnt the best...

Since I have no way of controlling my temp, with it getting up to 50 today, is my beer still lagering??? gonna get colder again at night in a few days. Do I still let this ride, its been in the secondary for about 4 weeks.
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slothrob
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Re: lagering temps

Post by slothrob »

Lagering is mostly about dropping the beer clear and aging out any off flavors. If the yeast is a clean one, like Wy2124 or WLP830, and the fermentation went well, you should have few, if any, off flavors to age out. Also, those can be removed faster at warmer temperatures.

Dropping the beer clear will depend a lot on things like pH, calcium levels and the yeast strain. Some beers can drop clear at warm temperatures, but others need to be cold.

Typically, I warm my agers to room temperature for the last day or two of fermentation, then let them sit warm for a few days to a week, and taste them. At that point they are usually clean. Then I keg the beer, carbonate it, and move it to the serving fridge. It then usually takes a few days to a week to drop completely clear, then I start serving it. If the beer ends up tasting like it needs a little more age, I let it sit on tap and taste it every few days until I think it is ready.

Your beer should be ready to package and serve.
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wingsfan61
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Re: lagering temps

Post by wingsfan61 »

Thanks, I used Wyeast 2035 American Lager.
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slothrob
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Re: lagering temps

Post by slothrob »

wingsfan61 wrote:Thanks, I used Wyeast 2035 American Lager.
A common off-flavor with that yeast is acetaldehyde, which has an apple-like flavor. When you package the beer, you can taste it for that.
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jawbox
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Re: lagering temps

Post by jawbox »

Sloth,

Have you used the WLP833? Planning a long overdue attempt at a Festbier/Marzen in a week.

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slothrob
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Re: lagering temps

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jawbox wrote:Sloth,

Have you used the WLP833? Planning a long overdue attempt at a Festbier/Marzen in a week.

Thanks,
Jaw
Yes! Ayinger is one of my favorite breweries, and I couldn't wait to try this one in a Dunkel. It is a well behaved and clean strain that I would particularly recommend for any malty lager.
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