First off, I use the yeast to make a lightly hopped 1.035 to 1.040 session blond steam beer about two volumes of my lager.
For me that's 25 gal. It's actually a starter in disguise. You need a crap-tonne of yeast to lager properly. See Mr-malty.com. (Thanks JZ)
Various flavorings will convert the steam to 5 cornies of "different" beer for summertime quaffing.
I'm thinking blueberry, strawberry, ginger and such.
Harvest the yeast, chill it and get ready for the lager.
My lager batch is 13-14 gallons.
I pitch in a quart of canned starter at the low temps a day before to wake up the yeast.
After knock-out I chill the brew kettle down to 45°F or so then pitch onto the cold yeast.
Take an OG measurement.
Knowing the apparent degree of fermentation, calculate the FG.
Calculate 2/3 and 3/4 fermentation points.
I then convert this to refractometer readings.
I primary the lager about 2°F above the minimum spec for the yeast to be sure it doesn't stall.
In 1 1/2 to two weeks I start taking gravity measurements.
When the brew hits the 2/3 to 3/4 fermented range, I kill the cooling, allowing the fermentation to free rise to cellar temp, about 68-70°F.
This is my Diacetyl rest.
In another 1 to two weeks, I start taking FG measurements waiting for terminal gravity depending upon airlock activity and absence of sulfur aroma.
I rack it off the trub for the lager storage phase.
Since I went to all this trouble to generate the but-load of yeast, I generally throw a second batch of 13-14 gallons on top of the yeast cake.
naturally, I chill and prep the yeast for low temp fermentation.
Many thanks to Mtn who gave me this process and turned my lagers from crap into awesome!
Oh yea, and by steam, I really mean Kalifornia common, sorry Fritz.
Edited by Stout_fan, 24 March 2015 - 05:36 PM.