Need help with beer

[Fabiola]

I am making beer for the first time, and the recipe calls for:

Stage 1 ferment at 53F 14 days
Stage 2 ferment at 55F 14 days
Stage 3 ferment at 57F 14 days

This is an American lager, and my question is: At what point do I rack it for the first time? How many more times do I rack it?

 

[Pumpkinman]

Normally a lager needs to ferment at 50° depending on the yeast, the yeast needs to be a lager yeast, many times a recipe will call itself a lager and use an Ale yeast, it may turn out very good, but it will not be a lager.
When it is just about finished fermenting, you need to pull it out from the cooler, fridge or cool spot that you have it in to ferment and bring it back to approx. 62° for three days for a diacetyl rest, diacetyl is a buttery-flavored ketone that is a by product of the yeast and considered a flaw in lagers, the diacetyl rest allows the yeast to absorb it back before going into lagering mode. After three days, you need to put it back into the cooler or where ever you can get the beer to drop below and maintain temps below 40° to lager for 4-8 weeks.

The Timeline should look like:

Stage 1 Ferment at 50° until just about done fermenting - this will be determined by the yeast as well, normally 5-7 days
Stage 2 diacetyl rest at 62° (or room temp) 3 days
Stage 3 Lager at 30° -35° (I usually lager at 27° -30°) 4-8 weeks

Can you post the full recipe including ingredients?
Thanks,
Tom

 

[Fabiola]

At what point do I rack it?

 

[LoveTheWine]

Tom's procedure sounds spot on for a lager.

I only rack once right after the Diacetyl rest to a clean sterilized carboy with very little head room and then lager in a fridge for 4-8 weeks.

I also rack into a bottling bucket right before bottling.

If you are using an Ale yeast then ferment for 3 weeks at the lowest temp that the yeast can handle then rack only the day you bottle.

* It is important with beer making to sterilize cleaned equipment right before use and not use tap water to rinse. I use Star San which is a no rinse sterilizer.

The more you rack a beer, the more prone it is to contamination.

 

[Pumpkinman]

Aaron,
I agree 100%, rack after the D-Rest, and keep everything mega sanitized! I use Star San in a spray bottle and spray everything down...my kids call me a germaphobe...LOL