HELP NEEDED pilsner

[mazz1964]

Hi we are making a pilsner tomorrow and have a medium sized starter ready. My question is could this starter be pitched at 18 degrees c then the temp lowered to 10 deg c if it could what would be the best way to do this. Or do we pitch cold. Also the lagering process, would it be ok to bottle the pilsner after primary fermentation then let the beer do the lagering process in the bottle??

[mazz1964]

no takers oh well guess not many people make pilsner then

[liquidman]

I think pitching in to a warm starter into a cold wort will be OK. If you can lower the starter temperature to that of the wort then you know there will be no issues with "shocking" the yeast, but a 6 degree drop isn't that big a deal.

Lagering in the bottle will get rid of your chill have but will mean there's more turb in the bottle, again no big deal you'll just need to be careful pouring.

Good luck

A

[mazz1964]

Thanks for that ive got the yeast out of temp control now it will be cooler tomorrow. Ill pitch it into 10 degree wort and see what happens. Thanks for the reply

[coatesg]

You can pitch warm (15C better) and then bring down the temp, but you will need to do a thorough diacetyl rest after the ferment has finished. You'll get a cleaner result pitching cold, but it'll work out either way.

Good luck!

[dazer23866]

i have just done a pilsner last week i pitched at 15 and slowly over a few hours lowered it down to 12.2 and its fermenting fine (rotten egg smell)

[coatesg]

Sulphur can occur during ferment with certain strains but will usually dissipate. The WLP029 (Kolsch - actually an ale) kicks it out, and a few of the German lagers do I believe.

[Bribie]

According to the new "Yeast" book lagers do need a diacetyl rest and if you pitched warm then cooled down, then at the end of the primary fermentation you should let it drift back up to your pitching temperature for a day or two to allow the yeast to clean up any diacetyl that's left.

[gregorach]

I would always prefer to pitch cold if possible.

I would also lager it in bulk before bottling - a lot of crud is going to settle out during lagering, and ideally you don't want that in your bottles.

[dazer23866]

would always prefer to pitch cold if possible.

I would also lager it in bulk before bottling - a lot of crud is going to settle out during lagering, and ideally you don't want that in your bottles.

what about kegging could i lager in a corni ?

[gregorach]

I guess, but you'd still want to transfer it to a different container afterwards.

[mazz1964]

my plan is to rack the beer into a secondary and then chill down to 0 deg c how long would the lagering process take. We made a pilsner last time and it was in the secondary when it got an acetobacter infection. Just hope it doesnt happen again

[gregorach]

As long as you can manage really. I'd give it at least 4 weeks myself, but I'm quite patient.

[mazz1964]

maybe best to just keg it give it a blast of c02 then into the garden shed then. I know the temp will not be at 0 but i can leave it in the shed for weeks. What pressure would be good?

[gregorach]

No idea.