So Inge, by saying I'll need to condition in a fridge for a month, is that straight after I bottle, or do the normal 3 week conditioning at normal room temp, then into the fridge for a further month? And 13°? I better unwrap the blankets from around it (which just keeps it at a nice 18° on average). I put the vat on Saturday, and it was 26° when I pitched the yeast, then after about 6 hours I put it in the shed where it should drop to 18° fairly quickly (with blankets).
You should be fine. First things first, get the temperature down to at least 15. Are you fermenting outside in the shed or something? If so, just wrap wet towels around the fermenter and leave it to chill in the night air. Your in Gero, so you shouldn't have any problems with the temperature at this time of year, especially once you factor in wind chill. Just be sure to keep these towels wet
Once fermentation is almost finished, let the temperature rise to 18. This is called a diacetyl rest, and lets the yeast chew up buttery flavours which are bad in a lager. Overall, leave it in the fermenter for about two weeks. The night before you bottle, chill the fermenter down to fridge temperatures using bags of ice overnight, or by leaving it in the fridge. This will cause the yeast to all drop out of suspension and settle at the bottom, and hopefully clear up the beer. This isn't necessary, but it will really help avoid mass amounts of yeast in the bottles and off flavours they may give off.
The beer may smell like sulphur at this point, this is normal.
Bottle them and stash the bottles somewhere cold for 4-6 weeks. Because the yeast works at low temperatures, they should still carb up fine, albeit slowly. You want to store the beer in the cold until all traces of the sulphur smell is gone. Crack one at 4 weeks, and sample it. If there is even a slight hint of sulphur, leave it for another fortnight, and try again.
Congrats on the ginger! I fucking love dark and stormy; ginger beer + Bundy = awesome.
Alcoholic homebrew ginger + Bundaberg OP = fucking carnage.
Anyway, schedule to follow is:
Fermentation: 11-12 days fermenting at 13-15 degrees.
Diacetyl rest: 24-48 hours 18 degrees.
Crash chill to 4-5 degrees overnight.
Bottle with normal amount of sugar / drops.
Leave at 4 degrees for 4-6 weeks.
Lagers are a bit more complicated than ales. I haven't really even bothered with them until now haha.
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