Two Brews: Sparkling Beer & Red Lager
Shortly after brewing my sparkling ale, I read through the recipe for the lager I planned on making next, and suddenly remembered a major difference between lagers and ales:
Lagers take about 3 months to condition while ales only take a week or two.
This time requirement is the main reason everything I have made so far has been an ale, along with the fact that it would require another 3 or 4 cases of bottles.
We bottled the sparkling ale Sunday and I went ahead and brewed the lager last night. This way I have something to drink while I wait.
The ale, or sparkling beer, as I decided to call it, will be ready around the 27th. The lager should be ready for bottling this weekend, so I will probably buy bottles from my local homebrew store tomorrow.
In case you are keeping track, the sparkling beer was BEER dad brew #14 and red lager is #15.
Friday 31 July 2009 12:31 pm
Dont forget about the temperature difference needed when making a lager. You can not ferment a lager at room temp like a ale. ( well you can but it most likely won’t clear like you want it to) the temp difference is why it takes longer to ferment the colder it is the slower the fermentation process takes. However I have made Ales with Lager yeast and fermented at room temp and it ferments just as fast as ale yeast (yes you can make a ale with bottom fermenting yeast, try it it pretty cool)
Friday 31 July 2009 12:34 pm
I also want to say I like your site. It is pretty cool that you are shareing your homebrew adventures with the world. Keep it up