by Old_Tom » Thu Jul 18, 2024 4:39 pm
Hi Bryan
Did you make any lagers yet?
I've made a few, you need fridges for lager.
I have a cellar fridge at 11 C which I can ferment in or my fermenting fridge which I can set at whatever temp I want and I have a shop fridge for lagering, I can fit two 30 L fermenters in at a time. Currently there is a German pilsner and and a Vienna lager in there, I'll be kegging them soon for Oktoberfest.
I have a bit of stainless steel kit for general brewing, one each 35 L and 50 L mash tuns and triclove RIMS heater, 50 L and 70 L boil kettles and two 32 L boilers for hot liquor.
I have three 30 L plastic fermenters, one 60 L and two pressure fermenters.
Brew day for me goes like this;
Filter sufficient water for mash into boiler and into 25 L cube for sparging.
Boil sparge water, chill to strike temperature and add a little (2g) sodium metabisulphate.
While boiling and chilling weigh out grain and condition barley malt with 1.5% of it's weight in water.
Mill grain into mash tun, add adjuncts or milled non barley grains.
Purge tun with CO2 then underlet strike water, circulate wort through rims stick and raise to/maintain mash temperature for an hour or so, raise to next temperature step or mashout as required.
Mow grass or clean stuff while starch conversion takes place.
Boil sparge water, chill to 78 C and add a tiny amount (0.2g) sodium metabisulphate, hold at 78 for sparging.
When mash is complete add first wort hops to kettle connect up sparge water and run mash into kettle.
Boil for at least 80 minutes, add additional hops as required and kettle finings, when boils is complete whirlpool and chill to pitching temperature, leave for an hour or more to settle.
Add yeast to fermenter and run boiled and hopped wort onto it slowly so it splashes and picks up some oxygen.
Then there is fermentation which varies a bit depending on what I am making.
For lager fermentation is something like;
Primary ferment at 9 to 11 C then cool slowly to 4 for secondary fermentation, when complete, rack into pressure fermenter and reduce temperature slowly to 0 C and leave to lager for a s long as I can stand, sometimes as little as 2 or 3 weeks and up to 6 months for Marzen or Vienna lager then fine and keg.
Ales are a bit quicker, once in the fermenter they go into the fermenting fridge or just stand in the garage on a heater pad with a temperature controller and some insulation, a fleece blanket or similar. Once fermented may have dry hops added and be crash chilled then kegged or bottled.