Lager help

[staplefordbill]

I have my first ever batch of AG lager sitting in my brewing fridge at 11c. Mmm, rotten eggs! I used WLP800, Pilsner lager yeast and am making Pilsner Urquell from the Clone Brews book. It's been in there 5 days and I saw Krausen after about a day. Going well but I'm not sure what to do next.

Should I do a diacetyl rest when fermentation's nearly finished? I.e. when the gravity is a couple of points above the target FG? I can set my TC10 to 20c no problem, but will it be OK to go straight from 11c or should I stagger it? And after 2 days of the rest will it be OK to go straight down to 2c when I'm conditioning the lager in my Better Bottle?

I'm thinking that I might need to add some yeast when I come to prime as most of it will have dropped out after 4 weeks lagering. Is it OK to repitch the yeast that settled out and I recovered before lagering? I've read that I only need to pitch a 10th of the original yeast amount (from a 3l starter).

[Rookie]

I have my first ever batch of AG lager sitting in my brewing fridge at 11c. Mmm, rotten eggs! I used WLP800, Pilsner lager yeast and am making Pilsner Urquell from the Clone Brews book. It's been in there 5 days and I saw Krausen after about a day. Going well but I'm not sure what to do next.

Should I do a diacetyl rest when fermentation's nearly finished? I.e. when the gravity is a couple of points above the target FG? I can set my TC10 to 20c no problem, but will it be OK to go straight from 11c or should I stagger it? And after 2 days of the rest will it be OK to go straight down to 2c when I'm conditioning the lager in my Better Bottle?

I'm thinking that I might need to add some yeast when I come to prime as most of it will have dropped out after 4 weeks lagering. Is it OK to repitch the yeast that settled out and I recovered before lagering? I've read that I only need to pitch a 10th of the original yeast amount (from a 3l starter).

Some yeasts smell god-awfull during the ferment, especially lagers, it's nothing to worry about, it just needs some time.
I lower to lagering temperatures a bit at a time.
You won't need to add more yeast after only 4 weeks lagering, I've gone 12 weeks with no problem.

A side note: the next beer I will be brewing is my Notingham nut brown.

[staplefordbill]

I wasn't worried about the smell. In fact it was quite reassuring as I remembered it from 2 years ago, when I used Saflager in a Cooper's kit. It will simplify things now I know I don't need to add more yeast before priming. Do you think I should do a diacetyl rest though?

Is that Nottingham as in the yeast or a beer style?

Thanks! Bill.

[Rookie]

I wasn't worried about the smell. In fact it was quite reassuring as I remembered it from 2 years ago, when I used Saflager in a Cooper's kit. It will simplify things now I know I don't need to add more yeast before priming. Do you think I should do a diacetyl rest though?

Is that Nottingham as in the yeast or a beer style?

Thanks! Bill.

If you're worried about it, do a D rest. Even if it doesn't really need it a D rest won't hurt it.

This time around I will be using nottingham yeast, but I like to give all my British style beers British sounding names, I call my ESB back bench bitter. The nottingham is a nut brown style.

[staplefordbill]

Thanks Rookie. Sorry to labour a point but is the temperature of the diacetyl rest important? I'm intending to use the fermentation temperature of 11c, but I know some use a temperature of 20c. I guess that's to accelerate things but I'm not in a hurry.

(Note to self - stop typing diacetyle! )

[Aleman]

Raise the temperature of the fermentation from 11C to 18C for two days, during the last third of the active fermentation (which really means just as it starts to slow down)

[staplefordbill]

Thanks Aleman. I'll give that a try.