Pasteurising lager / beer

[Bacon2002]

Hi,

Just an idea but has anyone tried pasteurizing lager / beer whilst it is in the fermenter - after fermentation has finished using an immersion heater wand.

I realize you would need a SS fermenter, you would need to draw off the old yeast first, as well as a powerful enough wand heater. Of course a spunding and vacuum valve set to zero - but lots of modern SS fermenters have this functionality.

In principle it should be viable? Although you would benefit from chilling the lager almost immediately after - a glycol chiller would therefore be required.

I have not read or seen anyone discuss such a method, even as an option, is there a reason why it is not possible or why it would be undesirable.

Thanks,

David

 

[Minbari]

It ruins the flavor and is really not necessary.

Alot of craft breweries don't do it either

 

[Bacon2002]

Thanks for the reply, sure I understand that pasturization could have a subjective effect. But I am primarily talking about lager (not so much about craft beer), my understanding is that pretty much all commercial lager is pasturized.

My question is more related to - would the above process work?

Thanks,

 

[Craigerrr]

I haven't seen or heard of anyone on the forum here pasturizing their brew. I just did a search on YouTube and there are lots of videos on the subject there. Sorry I can't be more helpful than that.

You are new here, welcome to the forum!
What do you brew?
Batch size, equipment?

 

[Minbari]

Thanks for the reply, sure I understand that pasturization could have a subjective effect. But I am primarily talking about lager (not so much about craft beer), my understanding is that pretty much all commercial lager is pasturized.

My question is more related to - would the above process work?

Thanks,

As long as you get it above the pasteurization temp. Yes. i think they is get it there quick, then cool it quick for least impact.

If this is just homebrew. not required. been making beer for 13 years. never had a packaged beer go bad

 

[Bacon2002]

Thanks for the info.
Yes, I am very new to brewing and the forum.
Although I've been researching beer for a long time if you know what I mean, only as a consumer and not produced any beer. In my defence I am looking to give it a go and start brewing in the next few weeks.
I'm sorting out my kit - likely a brewzilla and a SS fermenter (one with a glycol jacket). In preparation I converted a second hand Maxi310 (old bar beer chiller) into a glycol chiller, added a re-circulation pump and temp control (hot and cold).
I'll likely try 20l to 40l batch sizes, the plan is to maybe brew a few times a year, once every couple of months or so and I don't want to keep the kegs in the fridge all the time, hence why I am interested in pasteurization.
Thanks again,
David

 

[Craigerrr]

David
I have brewed 82 batches, and have never pasteurized. Beer can keep for months, the higher the ABV, the longer it will keep. For instance I currently have an 8.7% Scottish Ale on tap that I brewed March of 2024. I bulk aged it in my cold cellar for 6 months before putting it on tap.

If you are just thinking about getting started, I would recommend starting out with a kit that comes with everything you need to see if you really want to dive in. That is how I started 7 years ago. Brewing is essentially cooking, there is much to learn.

We have a tight knit, and very open and positive group here on this forum. We will all be more than happy to offer our input and learning experiences to help you become a brewer. We all started where you are.

Note that expensive fancy equipment doesn't make great beer, just like a fancy kitchen doesn't make chef quality food. You can make great beer with the most basic of equipment.

 

[Ward Chillington]

Spot on @Craigerrr ! yeah...fancy hardware makes good beer only if the brewer is any good!
Concentrate on your sanitation, process and what each ingredient does and everything else follows. Between the alcohol, hops and carbon dioxide, any other aids to shelf life on our homebrewing scale are pointless. Hell, it's been working that way for just a little bit longer than the days of Louie Pastore.

 

[Bacon2002]

Thanks for the feedback, will let you know how I got on.

 

[Craigerrr]

^^^^ thanks @Ward Chillington
I remember that first brew day, and not knowing a damn thing, I read and reread the instructions as I went, stunk up the house, but I made beer!
It wasn't very good, and the first few batches weren't actually, but I caught the bug!

For a first batch, a kit is definitely the way to go.
The two biggest things to worry about are sanitation, and making sure there is no chlorine in your water. If you are using municipal tap water, just use what is called a campden tablet. It was the chlorine that made my first few batches, drinkable, but disappointing.

 

[J A]

First...Don't overthink it. Just make some beer. You have a kit and instructions - it's hard to go very far wrong.

Second...Not sure why you're making a distinction between "lager" and "craft beer". Pretty much any "craft beer" brewery produces a number of beers that are lagers. If you mean that beers like Budweiser are lagers and others are craft beers, that misses something. Yes, commercial lagers are likely to be pasteurized but so are "craft" ales like Sierra Nevada New Belgium. Lager is just a beer style. Craft beer is a nebulous descriptor attached to a lot of beers regardless of their production or quality.

Third...No need for homebrewers to worry about pasteurization. Unless you're a prepper and intend to store homebrew in your bunker for several years, you have no need to consider it. You're likely be brewing small batches. Five gallons is usually the biggest batch homebrewers do. That's about 2 cases of beer. If that's lasting long enough to go bad, you don't drink enough beer. If it's going bad before you can consume it at an average rate, you did something wrong.

Fourth...you'll be storing in bottles, no doubt and that's where your methodology breaks down. When we bottle beer, we have to provide carbonation by means of further fermentation. We add a little sugar for residual yeast to consume and poop out C02. If you kill all the microorganisms in the beer, it's dead and you get no carb. If you're kegging and pressure-carbonating, you could pasteurize in the fermenter but you'd be holding the beer cold, anyway so it's moot.

Fifth...if you were determined that pasteurization was necessary and that you really wanted to undertake it, it's done after packaging. Bottles or cans of carbonated beer are heated enough to bring the liquid inside up to around 170 F. That kills off any bacteria, yeast, etc. You could probably do that with a sous vide sort of situation in a water bath that would hold the bottles or cans at the proper temp for long enough that all the liquid inside would reach 170 F. Would you get bottle bombs? Maybe... Would caps leak? Probably...

In the end, an interesting subject but more of a thought experiment than anything practical that you need to consider. Beer is one of the oldest naturally preserved foods. The reason it exists at all is that once it's made, it's "immune" to organisms that are harmful to humans and can last for months or years without refrigeration. I have canning capabilities and have thought about setting up to pasteurize in my temp-controlled electric boil pot (16 gallon capacity). Not for beer but for concentrated wort to use for yeast starters, or for fruit juice-based sodas or for cold-brewed coffee drinks.

Happy brewing!

 

[Ward Chillington]

Beer is one of the oldest naturally preserved foods. The reason it exists at all is that once it's made, it's "immune" to organisms that are harmful to humans and can last for months or years without refrigeration.

Exactly! Let me say it again "oldest naturally preserved foods"! Yeah so some 13,000 years before refrigerators, glass bottles, and knowing what yeast was, beer was a food and a way to preserve a food, ie: grain. As you journey into the hobby you will come to better understand how the alcohol and CO2 made it tough for bacteria to take hold. Hops, century's later helped to put yet another preservation factor into this magical beverage.

You'll hear us preaching sanitation because of that window between the boil and fermentation is a vulnerable time for things other than the yeast you want to put to work can take hold.

So yeah, keep it simple, keep asking questions and you'll be fine!

 

[Bigbre04]

good luck,

ask questions and dont rehydrate your yeast. cleanliness is king!

also Voss is your best friend!

We are working on a thread for single vessel systems if you have questions about that process! trying to get info and all in one brewers together!

#VossGang

 

[Craigerrr]

@Bacon2002
I would strongly reiterate my suggestion to buy a kit for your first batch, I still use most of the gear that came with my first kit.
My first kit was something like this, the only thing I needed that didn't come with it was the bottles, just save bottles as you go, and ask your friends to save theirs for you as well. Just be sure to rinse/wash them right after pouring each beer.
The price of this kit on Amazon Canada is A LOT more expensive than the one I bought 7+ years ago.
If you are in the USA, morebeer.com is a good source for home brew supplies.

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

I’ll add my two cents.

Long term storage of beer is most likely dependent on a very low oxygen levels. Most home brewers cannot get their levels as low they need to in bottles, it should below 50 ppb (parts per billion). Lower packaged oxygen means longer shelf life. If you want long term storage, kegging is your best option, lager or ale.

Pasteurization is not really needed for beer unless there is a likelihood of a microbial infection other than yeast, so as a precaution the beer is pasteurized to avoid further "fermentation" by something other than the yeast. Kegged beer is not normally pasteurized.

The other thing pasteurization might be useful for is to stop hop creep. It's a problem that stems from the natural enzymes in hops making past the pelletization process. The process has been improved over the years by reducing the temperature spike in the pelletizer, it preserves the hop flavors and aromas, but also the enzymes in the hops. The problem lies with dry hopping, since the hops are never exposed to high temperatures that would normally denature the enzymes, the enzymes become active in the beer. They will continue to convert carbohydrates into sugar, causing a secondary fermentation (if yeast is present) and ultimately cause bottle/can bombs.

I have pasteurized beer in the bottle for a fruit beer. It worked, but was a real PITA. If your were to pasteurize your beer and do it prior to bottling, it's likely you actually shorten the shelf life of your beer due to oxygen ingress and accelerated oxidizing of the beer due to the heat from the process.

Look into kegging your beer.

 

[Donoroto]

Any my own tuppence: You've sterilized the beer (wort) when boiling it. just before putting it into the fermenter. If the fermenter is sanitized, well then there shouldn't be any need for more, eh?

 

[Craigerrr]

Any my own tuppence: You've sterilized the beer (wort) when boiling it. just before putting it into the fermenter. If the fermenter is sanitized, well then there shouldn't be any need for more, eh?

Then into sanitized bottles or kegs with a percentage of alcohol which has its own preservation qualities.

 

[Sandy Feet]

^^^^ thanks @Ward Chillington
I remember that first brew day, and not knowing a damn thing, I read and reread the instructions as I went, stunk up the house, but I made beer!
It wasn't very good, and the first few batches weren't actually, but I caught the bug!

For a first batch, a kit is definitely the way to go.
The two biggest things to worry about are sanitation, and making sure there is no chlorine in your water. If you are using municipal tap water, just use what is called a campden tablet. It was the chlorine that made my first few batches, drinkable, but disappointing.

I like really easy. I started off using Spring Water, and I still use it. Not the cheapest thing in the world, but the beer comes out good.
I also like my single vessel BIAB.

 

[Craigerrr]

I like really easy. I started off using Spring Water, and I still use it. Not the cheapest thing in the world, but the beer comes out good.
I also like my single vessel BIAB.

KISS!
Keep It Simple Sandy!
Possibly the best advice offered here so far really.
Using bottled spring water also looks after the "chlorine in your tap water" issue

 

[Sandy Feet]

KISS!
Keep It Simple Sandy!
Possibly the best advice offered here so far really.
Using bottled spring water also looks after the "chlorine in your tap water" issue

That stuff just seems to work. It has some mineral content in it too. Everywhere has a different source. Mine comes from the Silver Springs area near Ocala.