The Beer Nerd - what are you drinking / brewing thread

I’ll vouch for you

You’re good for it!

 

Jam the Radar!

 

This

@Cativelense

 

+1 million.
Nuno.

 

That looks so right!

 

All in the name of love of beer, bros!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Yeah... And check out the outlook for today :

 

5 gallons of my first attempt at a lager are bubbling away in the cold cellar at the moment. Pilsner, carapils, a pound of corn, Hallertaur and Tettnang hops. I'm attempting a Moosehead clone for a buddy.

The question is, do I transfer to a secondary fermenter and when....?

 

How long do you plan to lager it after fermentation? You could rack it to secondary as the fermentation finishes and you get ready to lager, or you could just leave it in the same tank for the duration. I've never had any flavor issues leaving a beer on the yeast for even three months.

Oh, and cheers to lager brewing!

 

Kegging or bottling? If kegging, I would use the keg as your "secondary" and not do any other transfers. If bottling, then I would go ahead and transfer to another vessel for clearing.

Either way, once primary fermentation begins to slow down, which for my lagers is usually about 5-7 days post pitch, I will raise the ambient temp to 65°F for the D-rest and give it another 3-4 days. At the end of the 3-4 days, I'll take a gravity reading to confirm FG and taste test for diacetyl. If all is good, cold crash for a week @ 32°F ambient and then transfer to a keg. About 24 hours after starting the cold crash, I'll add a dose of gelatin to the fermenter. If you don't have the means to cold crash, you can skip it. If bottling, once the D-rest is complete and you've confirmed FG, go ahead and transfer to secondary and lager until ready to bottle. Depending on how long you lager, you may need to add more yeast when you bottle.

 

Do it for the beer! Dilly Dilly!

 

Thank you for the comprehensive reply! I will be bottling and do not have the ability to cold crash unless I put it outside overnight. At 7 days as of this evening. It was still burping along pretty good last night. I will start the diacetyl rest once it slows. Temperature is controlled by my cold cellar so lagering will be max 3 months before the cellar warms up too much.

Yeast is Wyeast 2112 California Lager.

 

Okay, don't worry about the cold crash, as most everything will fall out during the 3-month lagering period. When you go to bottle, I'd add some yeast just to make sure it carbs up okay. Probably not necessary, but better to err on the side of caution on this one. Nothing would suck more than to wait all that time for this brew to be ready only to find out all your bottles are flat and unable to carb.

 

That's certainly reasonable. Do I just use something like EC 1118 or SAF04/05? The 1118 always scares me. I feel like it's aggressive enough to ferment glass.

 

Any of the usual ales strains should work. You could also save some 2112 slurry from the fermenter and make a small starter from it just before you are ready to bottle, which is what I would do.

 

Man... Orange County is a brisk 75 today. Looks like we may get a few hours of rain, so no flip flops on Friday. haha.

Stay warm out there...

 

I was saddened by this until I read what kind of beer it was....
http://local21news.com/news/offbeat/truck-driver-spills-60000-pounds-of-beer-onto-i-10-in-okaloosa-county