6 replies to this topic

[3rd party JKor]

It's been a while since I brewed a lager. I've only brewed two ever, one was a Pils very early in my brew career that never turned out. The second was a Octoberfest which turned out OK, but far from what I was looking for. Now that I have my fermentation temps on lock down I really want to start regular lager production. I've slanted up a few strains of lager yeast and I have a good pitch of WLP830 ready to go. I'm thinking Dunkel>Vienna>GerPils>Trad Bock. Maybe throw an O-fest in the string?What do you guys think? Am I missing something? Is there something you really like to make with 830?

[stellarbrew]

Looks like a great lineup. In my experience with WLP830, it is a great all around lager yeast that you can use to make almost any style. That said, I don't think it is ideal for some styles, such as Oktoberfest and Bock. WLP830 attenuates a little on the high side for the maltier styles, in my opinion. However, I think you can probably adjust your recipe to compensate. I used 830 to brew an Oktoberfest last year, from a well established recipe. It came out too dry and hop-forward for the style. If I was to make that recipe again, I would either use the WLP820 that the recipe called for, or else adjust the recipe.

[earthtone]

looks like a wicked run dude! I've only got a couple lagers under my belt too. I am sipping a glass of dunkel I made that has been lagering for about 4 weeks now and it is the bomb. Your going to have a summer of tasty beer drinking with that run. Stellar has some good advice on the yeast, though I've never used it before. To help inform you might look at the reviews on the white labs site here. What about a dortmunder in there? I've been sampling some light lagers since making a munich helles and then a dunkel and I have to say I've enjoyed the dortmunders I have sampled quite a lot.

[3rd party JKor]

I don't think I've ever had a Dortmunder, but it does sound interesting. I like that idea. I'm going to take a look into a few recipes.I was wondering how the 830 would handle the OFest and Bock, since the attenuation is so much higher than the 820. I have some WLP833 and 838 on slants, but it takes a lot of work to get them built up. I used about 8 quarts of my canned starter wort to get the 830 ready for a 11 gallon batch of Dunkel. I don't want to work up a slant of another lager yeast just for one beer. Maybe I'll use the 830 for the "summer beers"; Dunkel>Vienna>Dortmunder>GPils>Helles, then work up a pitch of 838 and go OFest>Bock>MaiBock>Doppelbock, or something along those lines.9 lagers might be a little too ambitious for one year (I need to get my ales in too!), but that would be awesome.

[3rd party JKor]

The Dunkel is in the fermenter cooling down to pitching temps. And so it begins. :smilielol:Hit my volumes right on, but came in a little high, at 1.057 vs a 1.054. I had to tend to the daughter quite a bit during the brew, so my mash/sparge were a little more extended than I would've liked. No worries, though, everything came out fine. The gravity sample had a wonderful bread crust aroma. I'm excited about this brew.

[3rd party JKor]

Now that I have my fermentation temps on lock down...

I guess they weren't locked down as much as I thought. I'm fighting freeze-ups with my A/C. I chilled it down to about 55 with the IC (50 degree groundwater is one benefit of living in the snow belt) and put it in the ferm chamber to get it down to 48 over night. When I came down in the morning it was still 55 and the AC was frozen. I've spent my day insulating and sealing up the chamber (which was long overdue, but it never had a problem until now). The insulation really helped out, the chamber is running at about 18°F right now. I don't think I've seen it get below about 35°F previously. I also put some DampRid in there. Now I'm crossing my fingers.

[3rd party JKor]

I have to say, the 1" foam insulation makes a HUGE difference in the running time of the AC. Previously when I was fermenting ales at 65 with a 75 ambient, the AC would run probably 50% of the time. Now I'm fermenting at 50, with an ambient of 65 and it's barely running, maybe 10% of the time?