We brewed lagers last year, a good number of lagers. We learned some stuff, a good amount of stuff about brewing lagers.
We set out to become master of lagers. I am not sure if we did. We didn’t receive certificates at the end of the year.
Note to us – print out certificates, organize ceremony, wear caps and gowns, bring beer.
This video recap showcases what we brewed and our thoughts on the project.
Some Lager Brewing Tips
- Do make sure to pitch a large amount of healthy yeast. Use online yeast pitching rate calculators like the one on mrmalty.com to get the amount you will need for the lager you are going to brew. Respect the amount.
- We had great success racking right onto the yeast cake from a just-finished-fermenting-and-now-has-been-racked-to-a-secondary-vessel lager. Brew a few lagers right in a row that call for the same yeast strain.
- Have a process to maintain fermentation temperatures for the length of primary fermentation
- Lager your beer at fridge temperatures for as long as you can. Be patient. Brew an ale in the meantime.
Some things we still need to work out
- Water chemistry – We need to get a better handle of the mineral concentrations in our tap water and see if any adjustments may help to get a cleaner, drier profile to our lagers.
For the full line-up of lager brews, please click on the links below:
Bohemian Pilsner
Vienna Lager
Dopplebock
SMaSh Lager
Munich Helles
Munich Dunkel
Oktoberfest
Let us know if you have any other lager tips to add or other lager questions by leaving a comment below.
Nate: BreweryReviewery
Really like the videos guys. I started lagers last year but never had temperature control beyond my basement in the winter. I’m building a fermentation chamber right now so that I can control everything properly.
John
Hey Nate,
Brew on with the fermentation chamber. Any place you can make to maintain the fermentation temperature is crucial to making great lagers.
Mike
Temp control is critical to making any beer really. In the progression of things I think I’d rather see a brewer get in to temp control prior to getting a full wort boil or even all grain.
Fermentation is what can make any beer, regardless of wort source, the best it can be.
Tuuker
Just made my first lager. It was in primary for 5 weeks and when i had a taste sample, it was very difficult to understand what would long lagering period add? It tasted better then ale at this age. So i made few bottles, and left rest to lager at 2-4*C. A month later bottled rest of the beer. Now i can tell, that only difference was the time of carbonation, first bottles carbonated faster. OG was 1.058 and FG 1.012. I used a dry yeast S-23 and due to butterfingers lost some of it. Fermented at ambient temperatures 8-14*C. I think that people over stress about lagerbeer. My beer was a very clean tasting and smooth without any off flavours.