Am I doing this Lager thing right?

[scottywags]

This is my 1st attempt at brewing a lager and have been reading lots...just would like to clarify with some of you more experienced brewers if I am follwing the right process.

The recipe is

6# munich 1
6# Munich 2
6 ounces carafa 2 de husked

Bavarian wyeast 2206

On brew day all went well, chilled the wort down to about 62 degrees and then pitched the liquid yeast, ...nothing happened for about 24 hours and then the bubbling took off! So over the next 24 hours I dropped the temp down to 50 degress and the fermentation kept going steadily for the next 8 days or so with a very gradual decrease in bubbling. The bubbling did come to a complete halt for the last 24 hours...so then I
raised the temp up to 62 degrees attempting to do the diacetyl rest, I assumed that the fermentation would kick in again and I would get some bubbling....nadda, nothing.
Thats where I sit now, from everything I've read the "rest" should take place over 3-4 days.
Should I go ahead and just rack to secondary at this point and drop temp down to 35ish?
I have read some say that you can rack straight to a keg and then drop the temp down...If I do this, when I'm ready to serv, do i need to rack to another keg or is it ok to just serv from this keg?

Thanks

 

[teamcoaster]

It sounds as if you've done things more or less by the book. Often, you won't see a lot of air lock activity with a lager so I wouldn't be too concerned by the lack of activity when you did the D rest.

I'd check gravity and if it's where you want, rack to kegs and lager.

For the clearest beer, after lagering you might rack to a serving keg but I don't. I get half a glass of muck with the first pour, then pretty clear sailing til the keg kicks. If you have occasion to move the keg, you will probably have a day or two of "keller bier" until the muck settles out again.

HTH.

Doc

 

[JonM]

Sounds like everything is fine. I always take lagers straight from the primary to the keg then lager. Actually, I move to a keg, drop to lager temp, hit it with gelatin, then turn on the gas and lager. That way it's crystal clear and carbonated when lagering is done. That first pint will be sludgy, though.

The only other comment is make is to do the d-rest before the activity completely stops. I know the airlock isn't an accurate indicator of fermentation activity, but I usually start the d-rest after activity starts to slow down.

 

[VladOfTrub]

Unless you are good at producing diacetyl, do not raise the temperature of Lager yeast to Ale temperature. If diacetyl occurs, clean up the brewing process. When diacetyl is present, the rest is only a blow out patch. Diacetyl will reform as the beer ages. Beer is krausened when a diacetyl rest is performed. Reduce the dark Munich and use Weyermann Pils dark floor malt as a base with Munich light. Munich dark is enzymatically weak. Unless a maltose rest was employed (conversion), second fermentation is not needed. During primary yeast rips through glucose which is released during saccharification. During second fermentation another type of conversion occurs when a maltose rest is employed. Yeast absorbs maltose through the cell walls and from within, it converts the maltose into glucose. The glucose is expelled and becomes fuel and gravity decreases. During the aging cycle yeast does the same thing with malto-triose and natural carbonation occurs. The oxidizer is bound within the molecular structure of the sugar.
Depending on the brewing process the wort can become sugar imbalanced, being primarily glucose and without dextrinization the beer will lack body. Both, are inherent when grain is soaked in hot water using a single temperature rest.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Sounds like a dunkel. Love them. Your process is good. Definitely take a gravity reading and make sure you're at FG before lagering. As JonM said, start your d-rest before you reach FG. I usually do it at 80% of the way to FG (~1.020).

 

[scottywags]

My OG was at 1.055...I added about a gallon and a half with about 20 minutes left in the boil to assure that I had enough wort to make 5 gallons ( I'm still not good at calculating how much boil off and such so I kind of eye ball it.) which i think was to much and watered my wort down to much. I took a reading today and I am at 1.022. I don't know how to tell what FG I am shooting for. Everything I have brewed so far has just been a get what you get kind of final alcohol content. And to be honest, as long as the beer taste good, I haven't been to concerned.