German Octoberfest

[CrealCritter]

So here is the separation I was talking about after refrigeration for a little over 24 hours.

The dark top layer is beer and water, the middle layer is active yeast, the bottom layer is nasty trub. You can really see how the trub compacted from my first picture, in the post above.

I syphoned off the top layer and tossed it down the drain. I then syphoned the middle into a sterile pint canning jar and tossed the trub down the drain. I managed to get a little over 3 cups of active lager yeast, which is a lot. Label/Date and store in the refrigerator, it should be viable for well over a year. This lager yeast cost $8.00 for a little package, if i continue washing, I won't have to buy it again.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

This lager yeast cost $8.00 for a little package, if i continue to wash yeast, I won't have to buy it again.

Dang! That stuff is high - good thing you can keep it going!

 

[sumi]

This is so interesting. I'm learning loads here, by reading these threads If I get to a point in future where I may decide to brew my own, I'll know where to come for tips!

 

[wyoDreamer]

You are spoiling your friends, you know. Soon they will expect nothing but the best from you.

Reminds me of talking to an new winery owner once. I commented about how much I liked his apple wine and he said "yes, that one was a source of many drunken nights behind the barn to get it just right!" He had a bunch of friends always ready to taste his latest batch of "test wine". We moved away 2 months after they opened for business, hopefully they are still in business with the apple orchard and winery. nice people.

 

[CrealCritter]

Wow - that's dark!

It surprised me, how darker it is now.

After looking at the ingredients on the first post. I think I understand what's up with this "German Oktoberfest". The hops were called Tradition which is a Hallertauer Gold and Saaz cross. Hallertauer Gold is a cross between Hallertauer and Kent Golding. So this hop is a cross of a cross.Specifically bred for fungus and disease resistance. So this is far from the German nobble hops, I know and like so much.

It's kind of like taking a hybrid tomato and a herloom tomato, sitting them side by side and tasting each one. 9 times out of 10 your gonna like the flavor of the herloom better. Same thoughts go for hops... But in the hop world "Noble" would equal Heriloom in the vegetable world.

I just read that Tradition hops have a floral and herbal aroma, characteristic tastes are earthy, grassy, nectar fruits.

This must be where the slight blackberry flavor comes from (caramel malt + Nectar Fruits = Blackberry???) Now I know not to use tradition in any German brews from here on out.

But might not be too bad for a blackberry wheat experimental brew?

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Looks great!

 

[CrealCritter]

Day 8 - fermentation still going... I made up a nice little climate controlled environment for this Octoberfest out of a small but free deep freezer, that I cleaned up and painted (it was a mess, but nothing some elbow grease and paint couldn't cure) and a nice digital temperature controller that came along with all the brewing gear I paid $50.00 for.

The ideal temperature range for this lager yeast during initial fermentation is between 50F to 59F. Although my basement was right around 55 degrees, with the weather warming, its not going to stay that way very much longer. I have the controller set to 55, it kicks on the deep freezer when it hits 57 and shuts the deep freezer off at 52, pretty cool little controller. It also has heat setting, so I could use it as a controller for a turkey egg incubator also, which I plan to do eventually. I plan on lagering this Octoberfest 4 to 6 weeks at @35 degrees in my new old free little chest freezer.

The wire running down to the carboy through the hole I drilled in the chest freezer is the temperature sensing probe.

 

[baymule]

You do so many interesting things.

 

[CrealCritter]

Day 10 - still fermenting in the primary.

 

[CrealCritter]

Day 11 - Diacetyl rest, when primary fermentation is about 80% complete, you need to "Diacetyl Rest" the beer. This is accomplished by raising the temperature to approximately 10 degrees higher than your fermentation temperature. Hold this temperature for a minimum of 48 hours.

This does a couple of things for you:
1) most importantly, it allows time for the yeast to clean up after itself by removing the chemical Diacetyl that it produced during cold fermentation. Diacetyl produces a buttery or butterscotch flavor in your beer
2) it ensures fermentation is completed. This is very important as you want fermentation to be completed, before you start the long lagering phase.

I fermented at around 55 degrees, so I need to raise the temperature to at least 65 degrees. It'll most likely take a day or so to lift the temperature of this 5 gallons of beer to room temperature. So I'll most likely syphon into the secondary Saturday or Sunday. Moved out of climate controlled space into a warm room that sees no sunlight.

Lager yeast is a lot different than ale yeast. It takes a lot more time and there are more steps involved. But its worth it to produce a great tasting smooth lager.