homebrewandbeer.com

G'day Everyone,

What a top site this is. I am pretty new to brewing, took it up just recently after i bought dad a Tooheys starter kit for Christmas, well he has done 4 with some success so i got started not long after! What a great hobby this is.

My first brew was the Coopers Canadian Blonde with Brew Enhancer 1, its maturing nicely and i am happy with how that has gone.

I am now well into the 2nd brew, which is an Asahi clone attempt (love the Japanese beers got hooked after living there) anyway, i went with this recipe and have crossed the fingers...

Coopers Lager
Brew Enhancer 2
500gm Rice Malt extract
Saflager S23
Dry Enzyme

OG was at 1055 and has been fermenting in the newly acquired brew fridge at 10-12 degrees C for 5 days now and the airlock is opening regularly.

Now, my real concern is what to do with the Lager once the primary fermentation is complete, i intend to bottle ferment, however the question is at what temperature? is room Temp OK? for say a week or two, and then Lager for a few weeks at 2-4 degrees?

I would really apreciate your input lads about the next step with this

Cheers
Rob

Ok, you're a bit off base.

When your primary fermentation is done, you must rack the beer into another container (another fermenter or a plastic cube etc).

Rack for a week or so (at 10-12*C), then drop the temperature down to 4*C. Allow to lager for a few weeks.

At this point, allow the brew to come to room temp, prime and bottle. Keep the bottles at 10-12*C for 3-4 weeks, then store for 2-3 months.

That is lager.

Thanks for the tip Chris...... Lagers seem like hard work Guess it will be Ales from here on

Hi Rob,

I just started my first lager too and I ask the same question here, http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/vi ... php?t=2318. I'm confused with the difference between lagering and cold conditioning. Perhaps they are the same.

Cheers,
Matt

Cold conditioning is to do with an ale. It is generally much shorter than the lagering process.

Rob E wrote:Lagers seem like hard work Guess it will be Ales from here on

Rob,

There's absolutely no reason you can't make a lager without cold conditioning/lagering.

The benefit of the lagering may be a better beer, but you won't end up with a bad beer by any stretch if you omit that step.

Same goes for racking.

Cheers,

Oliver

try this: http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter8-3.html

Befor you rack to secondary take the fermenter out of the fridge and allow to warm upto about 20c for 2 days (diacetyl rest).
This helps the yeast clear that toffee / buttery taste which is not a characteristic of lagers.

After the rest, rack to secondary then cold condition in the fridge for as long as you can, a bare minimum of 2 weeks but the longer the better 4-6 weeks you'll see heaps of benefit. If you bottle, allow the bottled beer to sit for about 2 weeks at room temps to carbonate then back in the fridge for further conditioning.

I've made lagers with the S23 and although it is a true lager yeast leaves a fruity ester taste, not as clean and crisp as W34/70.

AC

When you use dry-beer enzyme, you absolutely must get a steady final specific gravity reading running over three days to guarantee that fermentation has finished. Somewhere, I have written an article about exploding bottles caused by bottling before fermentation is complete, and using dry-beer enzyme makes it difficult to know when you are there. With enzyme, the fermentation takes up to a week longer, even if it has stopped bubbling. So - warning - make SURE you have a FSG reading exactly the same over three days before you bottle.