Any lager recipes??

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Don't shoot me, I've searched...honest!
Is there a section on JBK with some decent lager recipes? Now I've got a fridge I want to have a dabble with cooler lager fermentation!

John

[Benson_JV]

Why don't you try a Marzen/Vienna/Oktoberfest lager?
This looks nice!

[Barley Water]

It's not the recipe that's the trick with lagers, it all about fermentation temperature and how you handle the yeast. For instance, a very nice Helles can by made by using a little carapils and the rest pilsner malt with maybe 20 IBUs worth of noble hops, no aroma or flavor hops. A great dunkel is mostly Munich malt with maybe a little Meloidin malt and a little carafa for color, same hops as the Helles. I agree with Benson that Octoberfest is really a great beer but for some reason, it is pretty tricky to get one just right, I will however keep trying. Most general homebrewing books will have a few lager recipes, there really is no big mystery about lagers but they are a little more trouble than ales.

Anyway, you want to ferment at 48-50F to get the clean fermentation profile you are looking for. I make up a yeast starter of almost a gallon (or use the yeast off a previous batch) for a 5 gallon batch. You do not want to stress the yeast at all otherwise it will start throwing off those nasty by-products we want to keep out of our clean lagers. I have a stir plate that I use for making yeast starters and it is really a handy toy for growing up a big, healthy starters. Aeroate the hell out of your wort when you pitch the yeast and also always rack the wort off the trub before pitching. I almost always do at least a single decoction for German lagers, mostly to try and get the almost creamy mouthfeel the good examples all display but I understand some on this board would argue that this is not necessary.

I think that once you get your processes down making lagers, you will find that all your beers will benefit. Many ales, especially the darker varieties, are more forgiving of technique issues than are most lagers. You will find that Belgian styles as well as German wheat beers are also pretty sensitive to yeast handling, certainly more so than are British or American ales for instance and experience making lagers will help you with those also. Anyhow, welcome to the dark side, it's all great fun.

[mysterio]

Agree with all of the above, a Vienna lager or Oktoberfest/Maerzen (basically all the same thing) basically a nice malty amber lager is a great first lager to try. I did a Vienna lager recently which turned out great, most ale drinkers would probably enjoy it too. Search for my recipe on the forum. I've done Wheeler's Spaten Oktoberfest (or maybe it was Hacker Pschorr) which was excellent, basically half and half pilsner and munich malt (I added a touch of crystal).

Basically you've got 3 options with the yeast, starting with the easiest to hardest:

1)Dry lager yeast, simply pitch 2 - 3 packs properly rehydrated into 10C wort and ferment there until completion - EASY!

2)Liquid yeast, make a decent starter (4L), allow to finish, chill starter, decant spent starter wort, pitch the yeast at ale temps (18C), allow it to get starter for 10 - 12 or so hours (until you see the first sign of krausen), then drop the ambient temperature down to 10C and allow to ferment to completion. No esters are generated in this accelerated growth phase so it's fine for lager making and its what the liquid yeast companies recommend. - SLIGHTLY HARDER but makes a great beer, I recommend WHITE LABS CZECH BUDEJOVICE yeast.

3)Liquid yeast pitched at fermentation temps (10C). Same starter method as above but you'll need to either double the size, use a stir plate, or repitch from another beer. This is the 'ideal' method but if you dont have adequate healthy yeast you can do more harm than good. - ADVANCED

Hops is easy, Hallertau for German lagers or Saaz for Czech, those are the core hops. Bittering hops only for Germans.

Oh yeah don't forget to lager for 4 weeks at zero C.... if you ask me the darker lagers can get away with much less which makes it an ideal first lager.

[Barley Water]

My go to lager yeast is Wyeast 2006. It seems to perform pretty well and you can get a very clean fermentation with the stuff. So far I have used it to sucessfully make Munich Helles, Preprohibition pilsner, Munich Dunkel, Octoberfest and Vienna Lager. I had a little trouble with a Bock beer I did a year ago, actually I suspect that the higher gravity caused taste issues related to stressed yeast. Anyway, I tend to stick with one strain of yeast if I get decent results as I feel the more you use a particular strain, the better you will understand what it can and can not do.

I have not used dry yeast other than to over-yeast certain beers for bottle conditioning or to ensure complete attenuation (for example with Saison yeast which is very funny stuff indeed). I have been partaking in this hobby for many years and I remember the old days when using dry yeast was frowned upon so I have so far stayed away from it. I have however heard good reports from others who have tried it so maybe that is something worth considering. I guess once I go to the trouble of doing a double decoction on a beer, I chicken out and just go with what I know has worked for me in the past, maybe I am just getting old.

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Thanks for the advice lads!
Think I'll stick with a basic lager to start with, I'm o.k with ales, they all turn out good so it's now time to try lager with summer coming up!

Did I say SUMMER???
John

[mysterio]

I have not used dry yeast other than to over-yeast certain beers for bottle conditioning or to ensure complete attenuation (for example with Saison yeast which is very funny stuff indeed). I have been partaking in this hobby for many years and I remember the old days when using dry yeast was frowned upon so I have so far stayed away from it. I have however heard good reports from others who have tried it so maybe that is something worth considering. I guess once I go to the trouble of doing a double decoction on a beer, I chicken out and just go with what I know has worked for me in the past, maybe I am just getting old.

I'm in a similar position with lagers, I tried dried lager yeast once with bad results, BUT i've heard enough good reports on here to believe its worth trying.

[edit1now]

Rehydrate two packets of S-23 unless you're really keen on a particular liquid variety. I think the Munich Dunkels I've made with this have been my most successful beers They got lagered in the garden shed, with temperatures varying between 15C and 2C - the first one from the end of October 2008 to the middle of January, and the second one running a week or two later. The one I did in February 2009 with Lordnoise is still bottle-conditioning. Now I'm waiting to use the chiller for my next one.

[Jymbo]

There are a few lager recipes here:

http://www.hopandgrain.com/lager.aspx