Lager questions

[james_m_r]

Sorry if this has already been covered a million times but I did have a quick search first with no luck.

Just started a lager off yesterday, never done one before and just wanted to clarify the situation regarding conditioning.

After 10 days in fermenter (should lager be 10 days come to think of it??) the instructions tell me to store at room temp for two weeks and then somewhere cooler for another two weeks, I was thinking the shed.

Does that all seem in order? Also I may as well ask, it is fermenting around 14 - 16 deg c during the day but may drop to around 11 - 12 deg c at night. Is this too cold? If so I will wrap it up in an old quilt during the night.

Thanks in advance.

[mysterio]

During primary fermentation you shouldn't let the temperature fluctuate too much, this angers the yeast and they might not ferment out completely. I would insulate if you can. Maintaining temperature isn't as critical during conditioning.

[steve_flack]

you shouldn't let the temperature fluctuate too much, this angers the yeast

Rather like me when the wife faffs about with the central heating thermostat.

[BIGTRACTOR]

is it acceptable to keep in primary for 10 days (or until fg is stable + a couple days), and then bottle straight away? instead of using a secondary bin?

then leave indoors for couple weeks and then store in fridge or cold shed?

[BarryNL]

is it acceptable to keep in primary for 10 days (or until fg is stable + a couple days), and then bottle straight away? instead of using a secondary bin?

then leave indoors for couple weeks and then store in fridge or cold shed?

I always do this. I don't have a carboy, and moving the beer from a bucket to another bucket seems like a great way to expose it to a lot of oxygen. At least with a carboy as secondary you should only have a tiny amount of airspace.

[james_m_r]

I had planned to go straight from primary to botles.
Thanks for your help all.

[BIGTRACTOR]

barry, thats what i guessed. So when bottling the lager, wouldn't using a bottling bucket also increase the risk of aeration? is it possible to bottle by adding the sugar to the bottle then topping with beer?

never bottled beer before

[james_m_r]

Adding half a tea spoon of sugar before filling with beer is standard procedure. I use the small end of a plastic medicine spoon and also prevent spills with the help of a small funnel (also plastic) placed in the top of the bottle.

[BIGTRACTOR]

cheers james. what size bottles does half a teaspoon prime? i'm gonna use 1 litre lucozade (plastic) bottles?

[james_m_r]

I use half a teaspoon per 500ml bottle so I would have to say a full teaspoon for 1 ltr.

[BIGTRACTOR]

just to add, i added dry beer enzyme to my lager and its down to 1.002 !

tastes nice even at this stage and i guess it gonna be strong!

thing is, its still blowing a bubble every minute or so, so must be fermenting still albeit very slowly. if i keep it going and the fg goes even lower, when i transfer to bottes will there be enough yeast to secondary ferment? (at the moment it is still very cloudy).

[james_m_r]

How long has it been in primary? If it has dropped to 1.002 I would certainly bottle it sooner rather than later. I am sure there won't be a problem with secondry fermentation although I am sure one of the more knowledgable forum members will put me right if I am wrong.

[Boo Boo]

I ferment at 10c for about 3 weeks before racking to lager tank and lagering at 1c for 2 months sometimes, use finnings and still have enough yeast in my brew to carbonate naturally.
If you were worried about not enough yeast at bottling time, you could always add a little to each bottle before capping them.

[pongobilly]

i want to brew a decent lager for the summer (any suggestions for a good lager kit anyone)

but im unsure of what type of yeast to use, as i dont have a room cool enough to brew with lager yeast 9-15deg

dont want to use an ale yeast and end up with a lager that more like a bitter

HELP!!

[pongobilly]

which spray malt, extra light or just light