melbourne man wrote:what is lagering? is it just putting it in the fridge at 2-3 degrees for a couple of weeks? what does it do to the beer and what is a cube?
Lagering is a term used to describe the process of slow maturation of beer at cold temps. The term lagering comes from the german word
lager which means "to store". It's suggested that the first reference to lagering beer was found in Munich's town statues back in 1420.
To quote US beer writer Michael Jackson (and not the gloved one!):
The rivers that flow from the Bavarian Alps form broad, fertile valleys winding around small hills. The abbeys favored the isolation of hilltops, and carved beer cellars into the rock beneath. These could be packed with ice from the rivers, lakes and mountains. Some Munich brewers took their beer to ice-cold Alpine caves to store it during the summer for later use as needed. When stored (in German, lagered) in such cold temperatures during the summer months, the beer became inherently more stable. The yeast sank out of harm's way; empirically, the brewers were breeding bottom-fermenting cultures.
Of course, we can drink a lager beer as soon as we've finished primary fermentation, but you'll find that the beer will improve in flavour and complexity if you can leave it to condition further. To sound like a broken record, the key to making an excellent lager (in addition to fresh ingredients and excellent temperature control) is patience.
Once primary fermentation has concluded, the lager can be given a lengthy rest at cool temps to allow the bottom fermenting lager yeast to consume some of the more complex sugars present in the beer before they go dormant. It doesn't take much yeast to perform this task - you can rack (transfer) the primary fermented wort into a second vessel such as a cube or similar container and the suspended yeast in solution will take care of the conditioning task.
I generally ferment my lagers for 2 weeks in primary at 9-11C, give the beer a short diacetyl rest for a couple of days at 18C and then transfer to a keg for conditioning and lager the beer in the fridge at 4C for at least 2 months. It's a hell of a long time from the original mash, but IMHO, the effort's worth it.
Cheers,
TL
Jeez!) can I just bottle & CC or Lager in the bottle. What would be the best process if not racking??Any comments appreciated.Cheers Fred
) store/lager in fridge, Then bottle from cube??