Lager Rhythms
“Let it flow. Let yourself go. Slow and low, that is the tempo.”
–Beastie Boys
After eleven years of brewing ales, I’ve started my first lager. On December 30, I brewed 10 gallons of bock. I pitched the yeast the next morning, with the wort at about 50F. No activity for at least 3 days, then slowly the bubbles came. After 3 weeks in the fermenter, this methodical creation had dropped from an original gravity of 1.066 to 1.030.
I knew this would take some time. Further slowing the action is probably the part about me not having terribly sophisticated temperature control. With my fridge on its warmest setting, this one’s spent most of its time around 45F, at the lower end of the temperature spectrum. Clean and lovely, it will be.
Like Tom Petty said, “The waiting is the hardest part.” But like David Lee Roth said, “I’ll wait.”
January 22, 2008 at 9:22 am
I’m a bit surprised that you haven’t brewed a lager before now! They are all I can brew in the midwestern winter. My basement averages 50-45 all winter long, so I need no temp control.
January 22, 2008 at 9:38 am
I’ve been away from here for a long time. Moved back last summer. My basement’s temp on brew day was around 65F, so I did it in my extra fridge, which is as new as my new location, thus never before lagered. Where are you located?
January 24, 2008 at 9:56 am
Minneapolis, and my house is old, so the basement is good and cold all winter.
January 26, 2008 at 5:01 am
We’ve got our lager lagering now. Tasted pretty good when it came out of fermenting. Very very exciting.
We were lucky with the unpredictable British weather, which dropped to perfect lagering temperature a couple of days after we put it into primary and stayed there for three weeks. It’d be too “warm” to do it now
March 2, 2008 at 8:50 am
[...] but not eis. Oh, well. No sense in moaning. The lager rhythms complete, this beer is now on tap. Right tasty and a respectable first go at a [...]