Lager profile for Maibock with WLP830

General
1

Brewing my first lager with the brewpi using a Wurtzberger Maibock All Grain Beer Recipe Kit from Midwest Supplies and WLP830 German lager.

Since this is my first lager with brewpi… what’s a good temperature profile to use with it?

I am thinking along the lines of 48 deg F for a week or so, then warming it up a bit for diacetyl rest than cold crashing to lager.

Any thoughts? Anybody have a specific temperature profile they like?

Thanks!

2

I’m brewing a lager using the following profile:

Rationale being - Start at 15 for a week to get them going, down to 10 to try and get the “crisp” taste, up to 16 for a d-rest, down to 2 for a cold crash. Move to 2nd FV. Then 8 degrees for the next week before cold crash again, into the keg and leave for a week or so.

Hope that helps. Can see it in action here: http://brew.benbenson.co.uk

1 Like
3

Pitch cooler than your target fermentation temp and let the yeast naturally warm up to your target. Example, target fermentation range of 48f, pitch at 45f. When you have finished fermenting let it warm up to 55f or so, no need to let it raise to room temp. If you have pitched enough yeast 55f is enough to scrub out any diacetyl. Do not Cold Crash. Lower temp 1-2F a day until you hit your lager temp (34F) and keg. This will slowly pull the yeast out of suspension allowing your beer to clean up any left over diacetyl.

Cheers,
-Stephen

4

I’m curious Stephen - why no cold crash? My profile is what I cobbled together from what references I could find - have I over-thought it somewhat?

5

You want to let the yeast slowly fall out of suspension. Crashing a lager can end up in an unclean finished beer. As with all beers just take your time and do it nice and slow. This will help you avoid having a diacetyl bomb.

Cheers,
-Stephen