Remove diacetyl taste with slurry

I have a Pilsner that I am currently lagering. It has a definite diacetyl taste. I may have flushed the yeast out too early and was too warm while fermenting. Can I add the trub from another beer that has finished fermenting to help remove the off taste?
Category: Mac

Why do all my beers taste better after having aged for a couple months?

My impression is that ales are typically best drunk within a couple weeks of brew day. It's my experience that letting them age in the bottles for 2-3 months yields the best beer, both improving body, head, and desirable flavours, and reducing estery flavours. Could there be something I'm doing wrong to make the beer mature too slowly?
Category: Mac

Can I lager in bottles?

I am planning to do a lager this winter, since I don't have a good way of controlling temperature, I was wondering if it is possible to bottle it with priming sugar, and then lager it? Or should I just move it to secondary to lager, then bottle? What would be the benefits of doing it either way?
Category: Mac

When Lagering outdoors

Can you lager outdoors, in the Winter as long as you keep the beer out of the light? I don't have the means or the containers needed to Lager.
Category: Mac

Why did my Oktoberfest turn out so light?

I recently did my first batch of beer: Oktoberfest (True Brew kit). Brewed up the wort, fermented and bottled to a T. When it came time to open I was immediately encouraged by great aroma, great color, carbonation and head retention. I was certain I had done everything right according to the recipe and had achieved a great beer. Upon tasting I was slightly disappointed by a less characteristic light flavor. I'm wondering what I did in the process to …
Category: Mac

Making a lager from an ale recipe

My question involves fermentation of an ale recipe into a lager. Is it possible to brew an ale recipe and then ferment it with a lager yeast at lagering temperatures? Will the fermented wort have the qualities (taste and color) of a fermented lager?
Category: Mac

Will this Pilsner technique work?

I want to brew the Brewers Best Continental Pilsner with the given equipment and parameters that I have, which is not much. My basement is averaging 40-45°F (4-7°C) degrees which I think should be ok for the secondary / lagering phase. But my brew closet, where I ferment, averages 65°F (18°C). If I'm set on brewing this kit, should I do the primary in the 65°F (18°C) closet or the 40-45°F (4-7°C) basement, and are there any things I can …
Category: Mac

Yeast recommendations for a Märzen without lagering

I'm looking at a few Märzen recipes, particularly an Avery Kaiser clone. However, I'm not set up to lager—I'm aware of a number of the work arounds to lagering without a refrigerator, e.g., a fan, a bucket, and a towel meet in the swamp... wha? or let's build a swamp cooler. I'm not building a swamp cooler and running it for a month, much less four. If I sub'd an Ale yeast, any recommendations to get near the target flavors? …
Category: Mac

Dry hopping a lager in secondary

I've just moved my first lager into a secondary bucket, it had been in primary for about 3 weeks. Currently sitting in the keezer at about 10c. The recipe I'm following calls for the addition of about 300g of hops for dry hopping. I was just wondering what might the best way of going about this would be. I know you shouldn't dry hop for too long to you avoid a grassy / plant-y taste. Would this still be the …
Category: Mac

Lowering to Lagering Temp, how will the beer taste different after lagering

First lager (Oktoberfest, Wyeast 2206), just took a sample after 3 weeks in the primary, and it tasted great (my friend said he picked up some candylike sweetness (diacetyl), but it could be because I asked him if it tasted like butterscotch, and it was front of mind, as I didn't detect any) I'm going to actually take a gravity reading tonight (I was so excited to taste it last night that I forgot to pull enough to measure) and …
Category: Mac

Can I move a keg that has been lagering?

Let's say I've been lagering a keg for a good couple of months. The cold has cause all the precipitate to settle at the bottom of the keg and I've got crystal clear beer! What happens if I move this keg to my kegerator and jostle it around a bit? Am I going to essentially lose months of lagering time because I shook it and mixed all the precipitate back into the beer?
Category: Mac

What to look for in a temperature controller

I've decided to begin assembling the components for temperature control, as I am walking around telling new homebrewers that its the best thing one can do to improve quality, yet I myself don't have it. I am going to buy a temp controller and a freezer (but will need to make space, as I live in a small rowhouse), but was wondering which controllers are best for homebrewing. There seems to be quite a bit of price difference out there. …
Category: Mac

Lagering an Ale

I was wondering what would happen if I brewed an ale, let it sit through its normal time period at traditional ale temperature (let's say, one month), and then lagered it at 40˚F for 1-4 weeks? I would imagine if one were to go this route, he or she would remove the fermentor from cooling for a few days so the yeast would re-activate, before adding priming sugar and bottling?
Category: Mac

First batch with Muntons Pilsner kit, will it take longer than instructed?

I'm quite new to homebrewing (in fact, I only finished batch #2 last week) but looking to test out a few new types of drink. I'm planning on starting a batch of Pilsner in a few weeks, for this I will be using a Muntons Connoisseur Pilsner kit (not export pilsner). I've read through the instructions, which state that primary fermentation will be 4-6 days (or below 1008), at which point bottling should take place (I've opted for bottles instead …
Category: Mac

What is the purpose of lagering?

I know all the cliche answers: "it rounds the beer out", "it cleans it up", "it takes away some of the harshness". I'm looking for a definitive answer of whats actually happening during extended cold storage. Is it just clarity? Are you dropping polyphenols/tannins that affect FLAVOR? Couldn't this be achieved with some finings and a quick crash? I've had some pretty darned clear beers that I've turned around in less than 2 weeks, grain to glass with some prepared …
Category: Mac

What activity to expect when fermenting a lager?

I have a lager in primary fermentation, with the temp in the fridge around 10C. The fridge smells of fermentation and the bubbler is not level, but I have not seen a single bubble escape from the bubbler. This is my first lager, so I am not sure if I am doing something wrong, or if this low activity is normal for a cold fermentation. The starter that I made seemed to be fairly active. Will a lager ever cause …
Category: Mac

Temp swings and forced carbonation

Like some, my chest freezer is my fermentation chamber, lagering chamber, and in cases where I keg, my serving chamber. I have a keg of Oktoberfest in it now lagering and carbing up at 12psi and 35 degrees. My question is, if I want to use the chest for a fermentation and remove the carbed kegs, will I need to dial up the psi on the regulator? What I would probably do is pull a growler's worth of beer at …
Category: Mac

Interruption of Lagering

Does an interruption in lagering, or swing in temperature effect a beer? My issue is, I only have one fridge available for lagering, which doubles as my fermentation fridge. Asked differently, if I had a helles in its 2nd week of lagering, and wanted to ferment a belgian pale ale at 67 degrees, could I remove the helles, dial in the temp for the Belgian Pale (at least for a few days), then after the first phase of fermentation is …
Category: Mac

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