My first lager

[jannieverjaar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jannieverjaar]

Ok so its a bit late to ask for advice since the beer is already chilling but please guide my next brew.

I have been thinking lager for a while. And ive had tettenang hanging around for it for a while (Mittlefruh as well) but decided its time today. Wanted to keep it simple BUT i finally got my hands on maris otter as well so that had to go in.

This is what i settled on.
Mash low 63C
3kg marris
2kg pills
250g chit.

20g tettenang at 30min
30g at 5min
No chill
Liquid culture bohemian rhapsody yeast
Fermentation 2 weeks
lager 3 weeks
Bottle condition 2 weeks
Enjoy for Christmas

What fo uou think?


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[BackOffMyBrew Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BackOffMyBrew]

Looking forward to the pics

I like my lagers a bit more bitter than that personally, I usually go 100g Tettnang in my lagers

[JIGSAW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JIGSAW]

Never made a "proper" Lager, so cant give advice I don't have

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

Looks like a nice recipe. I'd boost colour a tiny bit with maybe 200g of so of something like Caramunich I. Pils + MO alone is going to be very, very light in colour. What IBUs/OG/FG/ABV are you chasing with this one?

I've made a few lagers before, also mashed really low to get them to finish dry. I mashed one as low as 61°C as well, and it finished REALLY dry. That kit I sent you that finished really dry (I think you said 1.007) was mashed at 62°C. I can recommend it, makes for a pretty clean beer in the end.

Regarding fermentation - I would really recommend a week more on the yeast. Ferment low and slow, and give it it's time. I've bottled lagers after 2 weeks and I've bottled lagers after 4 weeks. The 4 weeks ones wins all the time, hands down. I ferment them usually pretty low. I pitch the yeast right in the middle of the yeast's temp range and then turn down the temp to cool the beer down to almost the yeast's minimum temp. My pilsner (that turned out REALLY good) was turn down to 9.5°C where it's minimum numbers read something like 9 to 13. I left it there for a week, and then turned up the temp slowly, by half a degree per day, until it hit 11.5°C. There I left it for another week and then I turned the temp up to 15°C when fermentation was done to make sure it's really done. I left it there for another week. I then cold crashed it for a few days, didn't fine it and racked into a sanitized cube off the yeast cake, and that's where I lager it.

I haven't found much benefit in lagering for long actually, now that I think about it. I think a few weeks is pretty much just as nice as a few months. I'll lager again next winter, and then I'll stock up some lagers and stick them all in the fridge while I don't need it for 3 or 4 months.

Good luck!

EDIT: Oh yes, just don't expect a magical beer from it being made with lager yeast. I remember being pretty disappointed the first time I made a true lager. I was expecting dry, crisp and fresh. Got something very similar to what I usually make with a low mash and ale yeast anyway.

[BeerHolic Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BeerHolic]

Personally I would use Pilsner for a lager. In my opinion Maris Otter is more suited for an ale, but it might work, let us know at tasting.

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

@Beerholic I would tend to agree. When making a flavourful lager mixed with Pils malt I don't think you'll benefit from using MO over normal 2-row pale ale malt that's probably half the price. Maybe it's just me though :P

[JIGSAW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JIGSAW]

If it was me, I would also use 90% Pils or 90% Lager malt.

[PaBz0r Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PaBz0r]

Fermentation 2 weeks
lager 3 weeks
Bottle condition 2 weeks
Enjoy for Christmas

Damn it is around the corner!

[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

tl;dr

i enjoy smash pilsners, 100% pils and some mittelfruh/perle/tettnanger/pacifica/motueka/anything but saaz. no need for caras, but if you do absolute max up to 10% and if i do use them i like to keep them low on color, cara clair/blonde. they typically sit between 0.5 and 0.66 bu:gu... bitter early/30min with a small 5 min of 20g max. it's a delicate crushable beer. i make more pilsners than any other style, or psuedo pilsners, i use skare. ~7 day ferment, ~5 day cold crash/fine and 2 days force carb. it's usually done way before 7 days, but i fit it into w/end work.

[AlexBrew Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close AlexBrew]

During the winter I made couple of pilsners - because of the lower ambient temperatures for fermentation.
I made:
1. 100% pilsner malt with magnum for bittering and saaz hops for flavour/aroma (21 IBU) - turned out to be ok, but not wow.
2. 100% pilsner malt with magnum and Hersbrucker hops (27 IBU) - winner.
3. 88% pilsner, 6% carapils, 6% munich light 1 with magnum bittering and mittelfruh and tettnager for falvouring/aroma (23 IBU) - very smooth drinking beer, but not much character to it.

These were recipies I got from the internet. If I'll make a pilsner style again I diffenitely use Hersbrucker again. It had a very crisp taste. It was a kind of beer that if friends drank it,, they would say "did you make this?"

I used Saflager 34/70 with everyone of them.

[JIGSAW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JIGSAW]

During the winter I made couple of pilsners - because of the lower ambient temperatures for fermentation.
I made:
1. 100% pilsner malt with magnum for bittering and saaz hops for flavour/aroma (21 IBU) - turned out to be ok, but not wow.
2. 100% pilsner malt with magnum and Hersbrucker hops (27 IBU) - winner.
3. 88% pilsner, 6% carapils, 6% munich light 1 with magnum bittering and mittelfruh and tettnager for falvouring/aroma (23 IBU) - very smooth drinking beer, but not much character to it.

These were recipies I got from the internet. If I'll make a pilsner style again I diffenitely use Hersbrucker again. It had a very crisp taste. It was a kind of beer that if friends drank it,, they would say "did you make this?"

I used Saflager 34/70 with everyone of them.

Just reading that makes me thirsty

[jannieverjaar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jannieverjaar]

Thanks guys. I really wanted to use the maris coz ive wanted to brew with it for 2 years. But like you all said its not really to style. Should have limited my 5min add to 20g not 30. Anyway here is the print screen with all the info i should have shared in post 1

Im using LC bohemian rhapsody yeast that ive been told very good things about

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[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

mate, your beer will be excellent, i'm nitpicking - there's not much to fault here. maris is at the end of the day just base malt. tettang is delicious, one of my favorites for this style adn your making a lager not a pilsner. so it's all good

[jannieverjaar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jannieverjaar]

Thanks man. My plan is to ferment low and slow. 10C so ill take the advice and leave it for 3 weeks in fermentation vessel. And check fg. I would really love this to be crisp and easy drinking. This is by far the lowest ive mashed so im holding thumbs.
Thinking back i would have loved to add mittlefruh to the brew. I have it, just decided not to use it. Dont know why.

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[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

tettnang is great on it's own in fact i was going to buy a kilo of it after lockdown, used all mine in a vienna lager. 90g bittering, 10g burnout - delicious. i'll share my favorite pilsner recipe. it's dead simple and uses a mittelfruh, perle combo with small amounts to boot.