How to make an excellent lager

[nallum]

A brief conclusion of my journey to discover how to make an excellent lager. It produces a thirst-quenching, crisp beer, regardless of a recipe being malt or hop forward, or somewhere in between.

I’m assuming you have some fermentable lager wort (kit or all-grain), lots of healthy lager yeast to pitch and fermentation temperature control. The basics.

No novel tricks or fancy equipment required. My best lagers have been made using the most basic home brew kit. It’s almost exclusively about yeast and temperature control. The basics.

Avoid reading or listening too much of the BS published online. Bloggers and YouTubers don’t half talk shite.

Don’t try to cut corners by selecting a non-lager yeast strain, fermenting under pressure or filtering. There are no shortcuts for producing an excellent lager. I’ve tried, including using pseudo lager yeast, pressure fermentation and filtering. Ignore those who claim it can be done. A ‘drinkable’ or ‘nice’ lager is not the same as an excellent lager.

The critical step in making an excellent lager, so unsurprisingly in retrospect, is to LAGER the green beer until it’s ready. That’s what a lager is, ffs. Store it cold until it drops bright/goes crystal clear. Until then, it isn’t going to be an excellent lager.

How long does it take? There are lots of variables, but several weeks generally. Check it after 4 weeks. I prefer to leave it lagering for 6-8 weeks. A keezer definitely helps but a fridge works too. It just seems to go bright when it’s ready to. It can remain opaque and taste a lot less than excellent for several weeks then, over a day or two, sometimes overnight, it drops bright and the quality is excellent. The malt, hops and yeast used become noticeable.

In summary, this is common sense to serious lager brewers. I’m primarily an ale drinker. A lager really has to blow me away to be considered ’excellent’. And the only way to make it excellent is to do what serious lager brewers have been doing for centuries. LAGER it.

The simpler the recipe, the better. It's only beer. Don't complicate it.

[IPA]

I am not a serious lager drinker but this advice has persuaded me to give it a try. I usually brew 60 litres but I also have a 20 litre BM and will brew this alongside my normal beers.
Thanks for the inspiration.

[clarets7]

Sound advice nallum

[MarkA]

Good advice! Out of interest, what would you class as an excellent lager?

[Dennis King]

For several years now I have brewed a lager around Xmas and allowed it to lager in my garage for January and February. This year I brewed the Munich Hells lager all grain kit from the malt miller and have been enjoying the best lager I have ever made in this long hot summer.