Beer Forum

I made a Vienna lager for my brother's upcoming wedding. Recommended lagering time after fermentation is 4-6 weeks. Unfortunately, my schedule didn't allow me to brew it early enough, so I will only get about 3 weeks of lagering in after fermentation. How bad is that? This is my first lager, so I'm not really sure from a practical standpoint how much of an effect the timing has.

Thanks,
Mike

It will be ok but longer would obviously be better.

I think you'll be fine as long as you pitched cold enough, had a rising temp during primary fermentation, and really let it finish out.

I wouldn't crash it too early, because I think thats the situation where your truncated lagering schedule would make the beer suffer the most.

How's the fermentation going/ how did it go? What point are you at with it?

ApresSkiBrewer wrote:I think you'll be fine as long as you pitched cold enough, had a rising temp during primary fermentation, and really let it finish out.

I wouldn't crash it too early, because I think thats the situation where your truncated lagering schedule would make the beer suffer the most.

How's the fermentation going/ how did it go? What point are you at with it?

I may have already screwed the pooch on that. I pitched around 70 and dropped down to 50 over night. I used a 2L starter plus an additional smack pack. It started fermenting in about 4 hours (approx 64 degrees). I'll give you an update in a couple of weeks.

off topic. your avatar scares the shit outta me.

Lager it for your 3 weeks and then filter it.

Just for future reference I think its best to pitch cold them let it warm up and not the other way. I normally don't pitch till the morning after i brew so that I can get the Temp right where I want it.

If you lager it as close to freezing as possible, that will help reduce your lagering time. Make sure you taste it before you crash it, and let it warm up 5-10 degrees at the end of fermentation so that the yeast can clean it up. You want the yeast to do all the work they need to do before you chill it down. Lagering just makes it smoother and more clear.