According to Papazian, this wonderful beer should be transferred to a secondary fermenter after 2 weeks of lagering. Given that it’s 2-1/2 weeks (roughly), it was time to do the transfer.
I desperately wanted to keep using the same fermenter that it was currently in, so I transferred it to my bottling bucket, cleaned and sanitized the fermenter, and then transferred it back into the original fermenter- all the time praying that I didn’t introduce too much oxygen into the beer. The recipe calls for dry hopping 1/2 oz of crystal hops, but I decided to use 3/4 oz of Saaz instead.
I also took a gravity reading, and got 1.016. After sampling the beer and cleaning out my hydrometer, I realized I didn’t let the temperature of the beer get up to room temperature before taking the gravity reading. Oops. Lesson learned. Taste wise, the beer is really good. Can’t wait till the final product.
Got 4 more weeks with this lagering till it’s done, which should put it out to October 14th for bottling, then another 2 weeks to bottle condition. So, I won’t be enjoying this one till close to Halloween. Sad thing is, by then I’ll be craving an oatmeal stout and not a pilsener.
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