1st Lager AG "Fritz's Fuel"

[adm]

...the name metamorphosed in front of me to Fritz's Gefühl (for which he got slapped) or perhaps Fritz's Fühlung ("Doctor, I can't quite explain this, but...")

It's actually not a German reference......my Brother in Law was with us over the bank holiday, and although he's about as Manc as they come, he's called Fritz. And he likes lager quite a lot (mind you, he loves my ales and stouts, so it's not all bad). They are due back in the Summer, so i promised i'd keep a keg of this lager for then....hence then name!

[Aleman]

Alasdair,

You want about 1 day per degree Plato (4 OG) so about 14 days in primary, then 1 week per degree Plato for lagering . . . . although if after a couple of weeks you can get the temperature down to 0C or a bit lower each day at 0C is the equivalent of 1 weeks lagering.

That's a nice looking brewday / wort

[adm]

Thanks!

That's a cracking tip to know about the 0C lagering. I think my fridge should get there...I'll find out in a few weeks.

So I could potentially crack the first keg in about 5 weeks rather than 8 or so....I'll be very tempted to do that. Strictly for research purposes of course.

By the way, this beer has the most amazing smell while fermenting. Every time I open the fridge door I get a wonderful fresh almost berry fruit smell from it. It reminds me a bit of a strawberry yoghurt smell - in a good way. (It's probably a precursor smell to some deadly beer destroying bug) I've taken to sticking my head inside the fridge every time I go past just to get a good sniff.

[adm]

Here's progress after 5 days in the FV:


As for the gravity - it looks as if Aleman is smack on with the 1P (4 OG) per day....this started on Monday afternoon at 1056 and after 5 days it's dropped 5P or 20 OG to 1036.....

Smells great, and the hydro sample tasted divine. I am soooooo looking forward to this!

With regards to cropping yeast, if I want to harvest some yeast from this beer (I'm already thinking Imperial Pilsner ) should I skim this top crop, or am I better using the slurry from the bottom once it's done?

[Frisfur]

What yeast did you use adm?

[adm]

What yeast did you use adm?

It was White Labs WLP800 - Pilsner Lager Yeast

Still got a lovely thick head on it today.....almost beginning to look like a brain with lots of convolutions.....

[jdt199]

Looks great adm, How are you controlling the fermentation temps and how do you plan on controlling the lagering temps? Do you have an ATC or something? Are you lagering in an old freezer?

I may well do a lager in future if I can get hold of an old fridge.

[adm]

Looks great adm, How are you controlling the fermentation temps and how do you plan on controlling the lagering temps? Do you have an ATC or something? Are you lagering in an old freezer?

I may well do a lager in future if I can get hold of an old fridge.

Sorry mate - I missed this post....just nipped back to the thread to ask another question and saw you'd posted it almost a month ago...

Anyway, I've got an old larder fridge that I've added a CraftBrewer TempMate (very similar to an ATC800) and a heater to, so it should be perfect for lager fermenting and....wellll...lagering!

[adm]

So I've been away for almost week, and before i went I realised that this beer had been fermenting away quietly for over three weeks, so I thought it was probably time to bring the temperature up from 12C to 18C for a diacetyl rest while I was away.

Before I went, I had a sample and there was definitely some green apple taste to it which i understand is the signature taste of diacetyl. I had the wife bring the temp up by 1C a day, and sure enough it's now sitting nicely at 18C.

I had another taste today and the green apple taste is definitely more pronounced, which makes me think that the diacetyl rest is actually creating more diacetyl as opposed to the yeast cleaning it up. The SG is now at about 1013 which is about 5.8% ABV - stronger than I'd planned. There's also still a gooey yeast head all over it and the sample was bubbling away so it looks like the yeast is still going.

Should just I leave it at the higher temp for a few more days and keep checking to see if the taste goes away before dropping the temp to 2C to start lagering? How long should a diacetyl rest last - is there a point at which it does more harm than good, or is there no rush to drop the temp?

It's taken bloody ages so far, this beer.....normally with an ale I'd probably have drunk most of it by now.

[edit1now]

With my Munich Dunkel I brought it indoors for about 4 days after it had had a fortnight in the chilly shed. I didn't taste it at that stage at all. Once it had a further two months of lagering it got primed and repitched, then bottle conditioned for a month. I was quite chuffed with the result.

The last time I had an appley thing in my beer the LAB people ascribed it to the scum round the brewing bin - I'd left an ale too long in primary and it had caught something. Don't despair - finish lagering it and then see.

[196osh]

I always thought that Diacytel was a "butterscotch" taste. I thought that the green apple taste came from acytlealdyhde, and that was due to it being too young?

Obviously could be horribly wrong.

[adm]

I always thought that Diacytel was a "butterscotch" taste. I thought that the green apple taste came from acytlealdyhde, and that was due to it being too young?

Obviously could be horribly wrong.

You're right! My mistake.....it is indeed acetaldehyde according to Palmer.....and should clean up during conditoning.

Right - off to turn the fridge down to 2C then....

[196osh]

I always thought that Diacytel was a "butterscotch" taste. I thought that the green apple taste came from acytlealdyhde, and that was due to it being too young?

Obviously could be horribly wrong.

You're right! My mistake.....it is indeed acetaldehyde according to Palmer.....and should clean up during conditoning.

Right - off to turn the fridge down to 2C then....

Good stuff, I am sure it will turn out magic,

[adm]

Right... I kegged this today and bunged the cornies back in the fridge and turned it down to 0C. Will give it a few weeks and see how it looks.

So far, I'm not really impressed. It's finished at 1012, so that's fine, but it still has a bit of a "green" taste to it. There's a nice Pils taste there, but I think some acetaldehyde too. Hopefully this will dissappear over the coming weeks. Should better when carbed too.

All in all, I think I underpitched this one. Next time round.....I'm going to do a big, big starter...

[adm]

First pint of this earlier this week, and it's getting there.....but it's not quite the "Eureka" moment i was hoping for.

Dare I say it.....but I think I used too many hops! Not for bittering, but for the flavour and aroma additions. It's a bit "over Saazed" if you know what I mean. I suppose it will fade out with time, but right now, the fruitiness of the hops clashes a bit with the malt. Never thought I'd say something like that.....

It's a bit hazy as well. It might be chill haze, or could be because I didn't use any protafloc when I brewed this one.

Still. Quite drinkable, but not as good as I'd hoped. I think more yeast, less hops for the next one!