Going to try out the Cold Ferment, do I have it right?

[Brody]

While I enjoyed my last lager it came out a bit too clean and I plan on trying out the Cold Fermentation process you guys have been discussing. Here's my game plan, let me know if anything jumps out:

1) I'm debating switching strains from a local breweries 'Czechvar' (Wyeast 2000 I believe) probably to WLP 830 (weihenstephan). Does 1 vial using Roachbrau's Yeast starter method (http://www.roachbrau.com/krausen-yeast-starter/) sound good? Was thinking about taking the advice of using that time to crash out all the trub/break material and rack off it before pitching the next day.

2) I'll cool the wort to 43f/6c and pitch then set the temp to 48f/9c.

3) Once I get past 50% EVG I'll start lowering the temp by 1/c every morning over the next 4 days until I hit 41f/5c.

4) At this point I'll transfer into a fresh keg, harvest the yeast, and probably purchase a valve (http://www.homebrewing.org/product.asp? ... hgodLrEKuQ) and set it to 10psi for a couple weeks at 5c?

5) I was thinking about trying out krausening at this point. Does adding a liter or so of wort made with Pilsen DME make sense if my brewing schedule doesn't line up to have fresh wort ready to go?

6) After a couple weeks I'll crash it down to freezing

[Owenbräu]

830 is not my choice for cold fermentations. Stick with one of the Bavarian strains, 835, 838, 860. Pitch as early as possible and don't add oxygen until after the yeast are in the wort. If you are limited by cooling capacity, then your schedule will work. Colder is better though.

You also want to continue dropping the temp during secondary once you spunden, all the way to -1C. See this: https://edelstoffquest.wordpress.com/20 ... n/#respond

You can easily build the spunden valve yourself for less if you source the parts off amazon.

[Brody]

835 - Lager X and 860 - Munich Helles are seasonal right? Maybe I'll try 838 for consistency.

I can go real cold (chest freezer), would you change any temps other than a colder end point for secondary?

[Bryan R]

My current method is as follows:

Chill to 46f, pitch yeast and oxygenate on the spot.

Put in fermentation chamber set at 46, and ferment until ~ 50% EVG.

Then I start lowering the temp, I do .1 every 2 hrs( I have a program to do this).

When the beer reached about 1.012-1.014, I rack and spund at .8bar.

I then hold the temp of whatever the beer was racked at until full EVG.

Then step down 1c per day until lagering.

I use 838.

[Owenbräu]

Just make sure you combine the temp profiles of the cold ferment and the secondary ferment postings. They are two halves of a whole. Bryan laid it out for you a little bit differently than Nico, but both work fine and will be far superior to anything else you have tried.

[Brody]

[Owenbräu]

The fermentation does't really end during primary. With either method, you have to get the yeast to finish fermenting in the secondary vessel where you have a spunden valve (manometer) installed and intend to build pressure to carbonate. The Narziss method Nico posted continues to drop the temp once you transfer to secondary and spunden at ~1.5% extract remaining, whereas Kunze recommends waiting until EVG before dropping below 3-4C. What you and Bryan laid it is more similar to Kunze. What Nico laid out is Narziss. Both will work, but the trade off is subtle flavor gains vs slight speed and reliability increase (less chance of stalling).

[Weizenberg]

The classic fermentation is basically like bottle conditioning. You leave a bit of extract to carbonate the keg. More than 1% extract (ie 1 degree Plato) left is not advisable since you are now entering low temperatures in secondary.

Then simply set the pressure relief valve to 0.5 BAR and then drop the temp week by week until done. At begin your cellar temperature will be 3C, at the end it will be -1C. That takes quite a bit of time. If in doubt re-read the entry in the blog or purchase a book dedicated to fermentation in the brewery (I've given the references in my post).

Let me know if anything is still unclear. Looks like you are not quite getting your head round it (perfectly understandable. Took me a while to digest).

[Weizenberg]

[Owenbräu]

Not to argue, but on the secondary fermentation blog you only quote Narziss for the "pedantic example" and the resulting table for extract %, temp and time. Is that table actually made from an average representing both references?