How does the brewing process for a lager differ from that of an ale?

[J A]

I haven't pored over every post here so I may be duplicating some info.

For all intents and purposes, the only thing that separates ales and lagers stylistically is flavor and, to some extent clarity. Brewing process is essentially the same but fermentation regimen is usually somewhat different. Precise temp control is the key difference. If you have that, you can produce a nice lager.

Technically speaking, the difference is in the yeast used is a different species and acts at a different temperature range. All yeasts will metabolize sugars and produce alcohol over a range from as low as 50 to as high as 90. They have a distinct preference for a particular portion of that range in terms of the esters and phenols they produce (or don't produce). Low temp fermentation with most yeasts, ale or lager, produces diacetyl and sulfur compounds. You don't want either of those. The sulfur will dissipate (more on that later) the diacetyl has to be metabolized by active yeast late in the fermentation.

Kegging is easier but you can absolutely bottle-condition lagers.

Here's a procedure that should work for you...
- Mash and boil as usual with a grist of Pilsner malt - Vienna or Munich malt is not out of place as an addition or a large portion of the fermentables.
A step-temp mash will help express malty character (I'm not sure you mentioned, but I'm assuming that you're brewing all-grain). A long rest at 148F and a longer one at 158F with a water addition will get you a lot of highly fermentable sugars plus some dextrins for body. A mash-out and slow sparge will help as well.
- One hour boil with bittering hops and a small late addition of hops for flavor -nobel hops usually preferred. Definitely use Whirl Floc or similar.
- Cool wort to 65F. Add oxygen by any means available. Sloshing/rocking will help a lot but actual O2 through a carbonating stone is best.
- Pitch a forgiving lager yeast at double the amount that you usually use for ales. Dry yeasts like Fermentis S-23 or 34-70 are excellent.
- Hold the temp very steady at 65 degrees through a few days or up to a week of fermentation until you're confident that about 80 percent of attenuation has occurred but definitely not to full attenuation.
- Raise temp to 69 F, maybe 70F and allow to ferment for several days until all activity is stopped and the yeast has started to drop on it's own. This stage could go on for a week or 10 days with no ill effect. You will smell sulfur...don't worry
-When you're very confident of full attenuation ( sulfur smell should be diminished) , bring the temperature down hard and fast to as near 32F as you can. Lager yeasts do not flocculate very well and the cold temps are necessary to clear the beer. This is the lagering phase. There's a lot of confusion, but "lager" simply refers to storage, which traditionally happened in very cold caves. There's no further significant fermentation at this stage. That can be confirmed by precise gravity readings. After a period of at least a week but not more than 4 weeks or so, you should have very, very clear beer. If you keg, you can transfer, force carb and enjoy.
- Bottling a lager is the same as an ale but you have to consider that most of the yeast may be gone so it's not a terrible idea to add a small quantity of yeast back in when the cleared beer is transferred to a bottling vessel. If you're transferring directly from fermenter to bottles, each bottle can be inoculated with a drop of hydrated dry yeast along with the priming sugar. Carbonate as usual at high fermentation temp - 72F should do. Allow plenty of time for the carbonation to happen.
- Since refermentation has occurred, the beer has become slightly cloudy with yeast. A second lagering period is necessary. Stored at near freezing for 2 to 4 weeks, the bottles should be crystal clear. Upon opening, pour carefully into a glass and avoid the last small amount that contains the settled yeast trub.
- Enjoy

All that being said, you can just brew a very simple ale with light malt for grist and simple hops for bittering, ferment with Fermentis S-04 at 65F, bottle condition as usual and allow bottles to sit for 3 -4 weeks in the fridge. The beer will be clear and clean and very reminiscent of a lager at that point.

 

[Sandy Feet]

Taste wise, yes. Mine is highly drinkable after brewing it 3 weeks ago, but another couple of weeks will give it a nice crispness. I used 34/70, and it didn't get much of a D rest as cold as the garage was when it was fermenting.
It is not clear at all though.

 

[Sandy Feet]

I haven't pored over every post here so I may be duplicating some info.

For all intents and purposes, the only thing that separates ales and lagers stylistically is flavor and, to some extent clarity. Brewing process is essentially the same but fermentation regimen is usually somewhat different. Precise temp control is the key difference. If you have that, you can produce a nice lager.

Technically speaking, the difference is in the yeast used is a different species and acts at a different temperature range. All yeasts will metabolize sugars and produce alcohol over a range from as low as 50 to as high as 90. They have a distinct preference for a particular portion of that range in terms of the esters and phenols they produce (or don't produce). Low temp fermentation with most yeasts, ale or lager, produces diacetyl and sulfur compounds. You don't want either of those. The sulfur will dissipate (more on that later) the diacetyl has to be metabolized by active yeast late in the fermentation.

Kegging is easier but you can absolutely bottle-condition lagers.

Here's a procedure that should work for you...
- Mash and boil as usual with a grist of Pilsner malt - Vienna or Munich malt is not out of place as an addition or a large portion of the fermentables.
A step-temp mash will help express malty character (I'm not sure you mentioned, but I'm assuming that you're brewing all-grain). A long rest at 148F and a longer one at 158F with a water addition will get you a lot of highly fermentable sugars plus some dextrins for body. A mash-out and slow sparge will help as well.
- One hour boil with bittering hops and a small late addition of hops for flavor -nobel hops usually preferred. Definitely use Whirl Floc or similar.
- Cool wort to 65F. Add oxygen by any means available. Sloshing/rocking will help a lot but actual O2 through a carbonating stone is best.
- Pitch a forgiving lager yeast at double the amount that you usually use for ales. Dry yeasts like Fermentis S-23 or 34-70 are excellent.
- Hold the temp very steady at 65 degrees through a few days or up to a week of fermentation until you're confident that about 80 percent of attenuation has occurred but definitely not to full attenuation.
- Raise temp to 69 F, maybe 70F and allow to ferment for several days until all activity is stopped and the yeast has started to drop on it's own. This stage could go on for a week or 10 days with no ill effect. You will smell sulfur...don't worry
-When you're very confident of full attenuation ( sulfur smell should be diminished) , bring the temperature down hard and fast to as near 32F as you can. Lager yeasts do not flocculate very well and the cold temps are necessary to clear the beer. This is the lagering phase. There's a lot of confusion, but "lager" simply refers to storage, which traditionally happened in very cold caves. There's no further significant fermentation at this stage. That can be confirmed by precise gravity readings. After a period of at least a week but not more than 4 weeks or so, you should have very, very clear beer. If you keg, you can transfer, force carb and enjoy.
- Bottling a lager is the same as an ale but you have to consider that most of the yeast may be gone so it's not a terrible idea to add a small quantity of yeast back in when the cleared beer is transferred to a bottling vessel. If you're transferring directly from fermenter to bottles, each bottle can be inoculated with a drop of hydrated dry yeast along with the priming sugar. Carbonate as usual at high fermentation temp - 72F should do. Allow plenty of time for the carbonation to happen.
- Since refermentation has occurred, the beer has become slightly cloudy with yeast. A second lagering period is necessary. Stored at near freezing for 2 to 4 weeks, the bottles should be crystal clear. Upon opening, pour carefully into a glass and avoid the last small amount that contains the settled yeast trub.
- Enjoy

All that being said, you can just brew a very simple ale with light malt for grist and simple hops for bittering, ferment with Fermentis S-04 at 65F, bottle condition as usual and allow bottles to sit for 3 -4 weeks in the fridge. The beer will be clear and clean and very reminiscent of a lager at that point.

S-04 drops out very well too.

 

[Brew Cat]

"For all intents and purposes, the only thing that separates ales and lagers stylistically is flavor"

Now this I have to disagree with. Anything you brew as an ale you can brew as a lager. Except maybe a hefe or other yeast flavored beer. For example an IPL or Baltic Porter. Some breweries like Jacks Abbey all they do is lagers of all shapes and forms.

 

[J A]

"For all intents and purposes, the only thing that separates ales and lagers stylistically is flavor"

Now this I have to disagree with. Anything you brew as an ale you can brew as a lager. Except maybe a hefe or other yeast flavored beer. For example an IPL or Baltic Porter. Some breweries like Jacks Abbey all they do is lagers of all shapes and forms.

I'm not sure we're saying anything much different. Though, in truth, I'm not sure from your example exactly what you're disagreeing with.
If style guidelines define a "lager" style by specific flavor profile, etc and someone gets to that end point by whatever means available in terms of brewing, fermenting, etc, then they've brewed a lager. If the finished beer screams classic ale, does it matter what methods were used to get it there?
If I make an Octoberfest lager using S-04 ale yeast (have done so) and it turns out to be a very good version of the style by every criteria, then it's a lager - not defined by the ale yeast.

Edited to add:
I looked at the Jacks Abby website to see what sort of "lagers" they produce. Most are styles are totally traditional lager styles or beers that might be shoe-horned into the more current definition of lager styles (mostly differing in hop flavor and intensity). But if I ask for a lager and I'm handed a Jack's Abbey Higher Calling Hazy India Pale Ale or Arctic Bloom New England India Pale Lager, I'm calling bullshit.
I'll stick to my thinking that lager is as lager drinks and same with ale. If you brew a beer to be an IPA and you get a great result using a yeast and fermenting regimen normally associated with lagers, you didn't brew a lager. If you use a clean, neutral yeast normally associated with ales and end up with beer that's indistinguishable from an American Light Lager, you didn't brew an ale. What lands in the glass defines whether it's a lager or an ale, not the methods used to get it there.

 

[Brew Cat]

Point taken. I wouldn't brew a lager with an ale yeast. And I brew a lot of lagers. But Ive also made some very smooth lighter ales. Kolsch comes to mind. I believed you were saying all lagers were like light flavored beers
By the way I've not had Jack's Abby NEIPA that you mentioned but it does sound forced and I probably wouldn't order it or make it. But their IPL is spot on

Edit by the way now I have to try it

 

[J A]

Point taken. I wouldn't brew a lager with an ale yeast. And I brew a lot of lagers. But Ive also made some very smooth lighter ales. Kolsch comes to mind. I believed you were saying all lagers were like light flavored beers
By the way I've not had Jack's Abby NEIPA that you mentioned but it does sound forced and I probably wouldn't order it or make it. But their IPL is spot on

Edit by the way now I have to try it

Another style that's a perfect example of this is a Cream Ale. The BJCP style notes are almost identical to those of the American Light Lager or some other lighter lager styles, along with the Kolsch you mentioned. By rights an American Cream Ale should be essentially a lager brewed with an ale (top fermenting) yeast. It becomes a catch-all style, though, and ends up being anything from an American Blonde to an Ordinary Bitter. The light beer I just brewed for my party (if it hadn't been aggressively consumed) would probably settle in the keg to the point that it would easily fit the Light American Lager category and definitely the Cream Ale. I brewed with S-04 and the resulting beer, brewed fast and furious and served very fresh, carried enough (pleasant) fruitiness in the yeast flavor that you'd have to nod to the English styles and call it a British Golden Ale. If it sat in the keg for a month and cleared the way that yeast can do, it would probably clean up and be much more neutral and start to more resemble a lager style.

 

[Brew Cat]

Yeah I have an American wheat on tap now. Used US-04 and Tetnanger that we were drinking on brew day and my helpers thought it was a pils

 

[Bigbre04]

Taste wise, yes. Mine is highly drinkable after brewing it 3 weeks ago, but another couple of weeks will give it a nice crispness. I used 34/70, and it didn't get much of a D rest as cold as the garage was when it was fermenting.
It is not clear at all though.

using apex munich at 64-66f i can get a very drinkable lager in roughly 10 days. no diacetyl, clean with a hint of bitterness from the 25ibu. No rests needed. if i have time, i drop the temp down into the 50s until i am ready to crash it and package it, this has produced a very very consistent year around beer that i have brewed on the order of 30 times in the last 2 years, by far our best seller! got great remarks from some actual judges as well.

 

[Bigbre04]

Point taken. I wouldn't brew a lager with an ale yeast. And I brew a lot of lagers. But Ive also made some very smooth lighter ales. Kolsch comes to mind. I believed you were saying all lagers were like light flavored beers
By the way I've not had Jack's Abby NEIPA that you mentioned but it does sound forced and I probably wouldn't order it or make it. But their IPL is spot on

Edit by the way now I have to try it

You should honestly give it a try.

i know alot of commecial breweries that use 1 or 2 house yeast strains for both lagers and ales. Chico fermented at the bottom or below its actual range can produce a very clean lager flavor profile. Same goes for Munich lager yeast fermented at the top end of its range.

at the end of the day if you are handed a beer that fits the style expectation it doesnt matter how it got there right as long as it tastes correct.

my golden lager is fermented at 64-66f for 10 days with minimal actual lagering time and people love it. I had a bjcp judge come and he was blown away. Hes writing up an article on it ill link to it when it is published.

 

[J A]

You should honestly give it a try.

i know alot of commecial breweries that use 1 or 2 house yeast strains for both lagers and ales. Chico fermented at the bottom or below its actual range can produce a very clean lager flavor profile. Same goes for Munich lager yeast fermented at the top end of its range.

at the end of the day if you are handed a beer that fits the style expectation it doesnt matter how it got there right as long as it tastes correct.

my golden lager is fermented at 64-66f for 10 days with minimal actual lagering time and people love it. I had a bjcp judge come and he was blown away. Hes writing up an article on it ill link to it when it is published.

I typically make turn ales around in a couple of weeks, depending on style and lagers in 3 or 4, depending on which fermenter I'm using. I usually start around 59 or 60 for a few days and then ramp up to somewhere between 65 and 69. Unless something stalls, it's at gravity and stating to drop within a week or 10 days. When I'm using my Unitank, it stays in there until it's cold and carbed and has some time to clear. If I'm using my other fermenters, I can't pressurize so I'll pull it out at about 3 weeks and keg it with some Biofine. It clears pretty fast and it's good to go after another week or so. The first couple of gallons aren't as clear as the last but the difference isn't glaring.

 

[Bigbre04]

I typically make turn ales around in a couple of weeks, depending on style and lagers in 3 or 4, depending on which fermenter I'm using. I usually start around 59 or 60 for a few days and then ramp up to somewhere between 65 and 69. Unless something stalls, it's at gravity and stating to drop within a week or 10 days. When I'm using my Unitank, it stays in there until it's cold and carbed and has some time to clear. If I'm using my other fermenters, I can't pressurize so I'll pull it out at about 3 weeks and keg it with some Biofine. It clears pretty fast and it's good to go after another week or so. The first couple of gallons aren't as clear as the last but the difference isn't glaring.

im using glycol chilled uni tanks, im a nano brewpub, so my times are really depending on when i have a draft line open. In the summer i have to turn and burn batches pretty quickly generally i brew 2-3 times a week. With 4 tanks, i dont really have time to let things linger unfortunately.

with the temp control and a very high pitch rate, i am able to really crank out beers more quickly. Plus im using Voss for my IPAs so that is 7 days grain to glass with a dryhop, no matter the ABV. Lagers i am generally at 10 days grain to glass(they will get as much time as i can give them cold, but i often dont have alot of time). general ales, using apex sandiego(chico) are 5-7 days grain to glass.

i have biofine, but i have never needed to use it, everything that is expected to be clear drops to clear pretty quickly in the keg cooler @ 36f.

I also am not doing transfers so everything is singled tanked. I am pushing 2bbls out of a 2HL brewhouse and 4bbls out of 3.5 bbl fermenters. if i transfer to a brite, i will only get 3.5 kegs vs 4. At my scale that hurts.

 

[Donoroto]

"For all intents and purposes, the only thing that separates ales and lagers stylistically is flavor"

"For All in Tents, and Porpoises" You know, boy scouts and aquatic mammals...
(Sorry, Dad joke)

More seriously: For the most part, the thing that separates all styles is flavor. Sure, we get color, perhaps mouthfeel or odor, but all those kinda boil down to flavor. So yes, you are correct.

 

[J A]

im using glycol chilled uni tanks, im a nano brewpub, so my times are really depending on when i have a draft line open. In the summer i have to turn and burn batches pretty quickly generally i brew 2-3 times a week. With 4 tanks, i dont really have time to let things linger unfortunately.

with the temp control and a very high pitch rate, i am able to really crank out beers more quickly. Plus im using Voss for my IPAs so that is 7 days grain to glass with a dryhop, no matter the ABV. Lagers i am generally at 10 days grain to glass(they will get as much time as i can give them cold, but i often dont have alot of time). general ales, using apex sandiego(chico) are 5-7 days grain to glass.

i have biofine, but i have never needed to use it, everything that is expected to be clear drops to clear pretty quickly in the keg cooler @ 36f.

I also am not doing transfers so everything is singled tanked. I am pushing 2bbls out of a 2HL brewhouse and 4bbls out of 3.5 bbl fermenters. if i transfer to a brite, i will only get 3.5 kegs vs 4. At my scale that hurts.

Many times I've wanted to work out a way to go brewpub but I just don't think I have the energy any more.
Making a go of it is tough when you have to cover very much overhead at all and a small system like yours needs to run a lot. You're getting about as much as can be gotten out of it.
I love the pro brewing process and I'd like the brewpub business, especially combined with food sales but it would take working non-stop and those days are long gone for me.

 

[Sandy Feet]

Many times I've wanted to work out a way to go brewpub but I just don't think I have the energy any more.
Making a go of it is tough when you have to cover very much overhead at all and a small system like yours needs to run a lot. You're getting about as much as can be gotten out of it.
I love the pro brewing process and I'd like the brewpub business, especially combined with food sales but it would take working non-stop and those days are long gone for me.

I do my best to support the ones around here when I can The good ones have a few beers that taste good and are sessionable enough to enjoy a couple.