What's your favourite lager pressure fermenting process and why?

[Shamus O'Sean]

Hey fellow brewers.

I have done three pressure fermented lagers over the past 2 - 3 months.  I have got one more to do in this current run of pouring the wort onto the yeast cake of the previous brew.

I pressure fermented all of the three brews at 15psi and 24-25°C using Lallemand Diamond Lager yeast.  They were all finished fermenting within 2 -3 days.  So excellent timing there.  However, I still reverted to my old process of dropping the temperature by 1.5°C every 12 hours until I got to 1°C then I cold crashed for 5 - 7 days.  All three beers have tasted great.  

I would like to speed up the temperature drop and cold crash phases.  Therefore I want to ask:  What's your favourite lager pressure fermenting process and why?

[kmar92]

I always do 15psi, thinking about it, I do not know why I have selected that pressure but it is just what I have always run. Seems to work OK with Dubbya.

@iBooz2 used Diamond lager yeast a lot, @Shamus O'Sean any insight on that yeast? I may try it. Differences compared to Dubbya?

[Shamus O'Sean]

2 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

I always do 15psi, thinking about it, I do not know why I have selected that pressure but it is just what I have always run. Seems to work OK with Dubbya.

@iBooz2 used Diamond lager yeast a lot, @Shamus O'Sean any insight on that yeast? I may try it. Differences compared to Dubbya?

Hey kmar92, I went with Diamond Lager yeast based on @iBooz2's recommendation.  To me it is very similar to Dubbya.  I would have to do a side-by-side taste-test to really compare them.  Maybe the Diamond Lager softens the bitterness a tiny bit.  

15psi seems like a common pressure for warm lager pressure fermenting.  What temperature do you go with?  What about ramping down to cold crash temperatures?  How long do you cold crash and at what temperature?  Just asking, to see if some common practices become apparent.

[Tone boy]

Hey Shamus,

I don’t pressure ferment but do a few lagers - usually with w34/70. After fermentation has finished and the diacetyl cleaned up, I just drop it straight down for a cold crash. No gradual reduction in temp. My lagers taste really clean, and the bottles carb up ok so I know the yeast hasn’t died in that fast cold crash. Note that my cold crashed beers do take longer to carb in the bottle, probably due to reduced yeast, but they do get there. 
Im not drinking lagers young anyway so if they take 3 weeks to carb up who cares. I get that you’re probably a kegger so it’s a moot point for you anyway.

Just thought I’d throw my view in even though I’m not a pressure fermenter dude
Cheers

[kmar92]

13 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Hey kmar92, I went with Diamond Lager yeast based on @iBooz2's recommendation.  To me it is very similar to Dubbya.  I would have to do a side-by-side taste-test to really compare them.  Maybe the Diamond Lager softens the bitterness a tiny bit.  

15psi seems like a common pressure for warm lager pressure fermenting.  What temperature do you go with?  What about ramping down to cold crash temperatures?  How long do you cold crash and at what temperature?  Just asking, to see if some common practices become apparent.

I generally ferment a lager in the 23° - 24° range when using W34/70 and that seems to work well. I don't intentionally ramp the temp down but my ferment fridge will take around 24hrs to get a batch down to c.2° from 24°. I usually only C/C for 2 days at 1° - 2°, I have crashed for longer in the past but there does not seem to be any appreciable difference in a beer crashed for 2 days v crashing for a longer period and from what I have gleaned on the internet, that seems to be the general opinion.

[Red devil 44]

I pressure ferment my lagers with 34/70 at 13 degrees, 20PSI, leave for 2-3 weeks, then gradual CC of 3 degrees per day down to 1 degree. 
‘As you drop the temp it also drops the pressure 5-10PSI going from 13 down to 1 degree. 
‘Always comes out a nice crisp clean lager.

I just brewed a Kolsch (no pressure ferment) and it came out very cloudy looking so I’ll give it a few more weeks to clear itself up. 

[Shamus O'Sean]

14 hours ago, Tone boy said:

Hey Shamus,

I don’t pressure ferment but do a few lagers - usually with w34/70. After fermentation has finished and the diacetyl cleaned up, I just drop it straight down for a cold crash. No gradual reduction in temp. My lagers taste really clean, and the bottles carb up ok so I know the yeast hasn’t died in that fast cold crash. Note that my cold crashed beers do take longer to carb in the bottle, probably due to reduced yeast, but they do get there. 
Im not drinking lagers young anyway so if they take 3 weeks to carb up who cares. I get that you’re probably a kegger so it’s a moot point for you anyway.

Just thought I’d throw my view in even though I’m not a pressure fermenter dude
Cheers

Thanks, Tone, Your process is quite similar to mine when I am not pressure fermenting a lager.

• Use Dubbya at 12C
• Up to 18C for a diacetyl rest once the SG drops below 1.020
• Once SG is stable for 2-3 days, I do ramp the temperature down over 3-4 days to 1C
• When at 1C, I add Isinglass finings
• 24 hours later, add Polyclar to combat chill haze
• Cold crash for at least 2 more days
• When bottling I would leave them for 2-3 weeks, although I would almost always have one at 2 weeks, just as a test.
• Now that I am kegging, I am impatient and fast carb over night, ready to drink the next day.

[Shamus O'Sean]

Thanks @kmar92 and @Red devil 44.  Two slightly different processes with some similarities to my process. Now I am really confused. .  I guess it shows there are many ways to the top of the mountain.