Fermentation advice on first LODO Lager

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Feurhund
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Location: Newburyport, Massachusetts

Fermentation advice on first LODO Lager

Postby Feurhund » Mon Jan 30, 2017 11:09 am

I have 11 gallons of 1.053 American Pilsner in a 14 Gallon conical. I pitched with 1 liter of fresh slurry of BSI Augustiner yeast from a local brewery. I pitched at 45F and have been fermenting controlled between 46F for 12 days. at Day 5 it was down to 1.023 and now at day 12 it is at 1.011.

additional info....I used some wort as a 1.5 liter starter for some additional yeast and it finished at 1.009.

The samples start with a noticeable sulfur nose, but after sitting to warm up it dissipates. My questions:

Should I allow it to warm up for a few days to finish and off gas the sulfur?
If so at what temp? and how long? Gradual over a few days?
Should I start dropping temp to lagering temp and then rack for spunding?

Thank you for the help and advice.
Techbrau
German Brewing
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Re: Fermentation advice on first LODO Lager

Postby Techbrau » Mon Jan 30, 2017 12:08 pm

Did you aerate the wort? I assume the yeast you got was a cone harvest so it's likely oxygen starved.

You want to have some SO2 when you rack to lager. It's an essential antioxidant that will protect the beer during racking. It will fade with time - 4-6 weeks should be enough. If it's still too much after that amount of time, you can look into your pitch rate and oxygenation of the yeast (too much or too little of either will increase SO2 production; there's a happy medium where they'll produce just the right amount of SO2).
If you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you've always gotten.
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Feurhund
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Re: Fermentation advice on first LODO Lager

Postby Feurhund » Mon Jan 30, 2017 1:22 pm

Thanks Techbrau. Its a relatively small brewery so I assume less stress and I added the yeast, waited 15 minutes and then aerated with pure O2 for 1 minute. The samples taste great so far. nice and firm bitterness, so it will hold up during lagering. I guess I could start lowering down to 32F over the next 3 days with NO warm rest?
Techbrau
German Brewing
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Re: Fermentation advice on first LODO Lager

Postby Techbrau » Mon Jan 30, 2017 2:47 pm

My preferred method nowadays is to ferment at 9c, drop to 8c over 24h once I'm 2 Plato above the attenuation limit, and then rack at 8c once there's 1 Plato worth of remaining fermentable extract. I hold 8c until FG is reached, and then just move the keg into my keezer at 3c.
If you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you've always gotten.
VolgaGebietDeutscher
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Re: Fermentation advice on first LODO Lager

Postby VolgaGebietDeutscher » Wed Feb 01, 2017 1:16 am

Planning my first LODO lager as well. Looking for guidance. What is recommended for the best primary vessel? I can either use 6.5 ga plastic bucket (or carboy) and transfer to keg with a spunding setup, or ferment in 5 ga (primary) corny and attempt a closed transfer to secondary keg with spunding. Is closed transfer recommended for best LODO results, or does it not matter as much?
From what I gather from the LODO process, we are visually monitoring the fill level in the secondary to reduce headspace as much as possible, and that's not possible with closed transfer. Thanks guys, I am looking to get the best process sorted out for a great BoPils!
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Cavpilot2000
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Re: Fermentation advice on first LODO Lager

Postby Cavpilot2000 » Tue Apr 04, 2017 4:20 pm

Caveat: I am a Low O2 newbie as well, but I've been reading and planning a lot. My first batch didn't go well (too many new processes implemented at once), but I have my second (a Bavarian Pils) finishing up primary fermentation now. So take any of my advice with a grain of salt. Mainly I'm answering to bump your question up in the cue.

I would think the Corny primary is preferred for Low O2/LODO, as plastic is O2 permeable to varying degrees, and the headspace can allow for O2 ingress. That's what I'm using. Closed transfer is preferable, in my understanding, as is stainless (rather than plastic or glass).
Obviously transferring keg to keg, overfilling is not an issue, but if transferring from a vessel larger than the receiving vessel, you could always just fill until it comes out your gas tube (could be messy). Otherwise, I'm not sure how to tell when enough is enough.

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