Good Day!
I've got a nice batch of lager currently bubbling away in primary, and I had a few questions as it is my first lager.
- It is an extract kit, the More Beer Vienna kit, however I steeped about a pound of chocolate malt before adding in the syrup from the kit. I was hoping that would add a nutty flavor profile and a bit more color. Am I right?
- I used white labs Southern German Lager yeast as my yeast. Pitched at about 64 degrees and brought it down in my fridge to an ambient temp of 50 degrees. It has been bubbling nicely since the evening of the 7th of Sept. I pulled a bit of beer and did a gravity reading, and it is about 1.020. It started at 1.040. Is this normal?
- I read on a web site that lagers for homebrewers should go through a small period of temperature increase before racking the beer. Is this a good idea?
- I did 1 oz of Czech Saaz during the boil, and was supposed (according to the kit) to add in .5 oz during the last 1 minute for aroma. I forgot to do the aroma hops. What could I expect to get if I did that .5 oz or even 1 oz as a dry hopping in the keg? That is what dry hopping is right? Is that bad to do with pellets (in a bag of course)?
- When I do rack the beer to the secondary (keg) the temperature needs to be much lower than primary ferm temp right? What sort of temperature range am I looking at here, and what is the effect that it will have on the finished product if the temp is lower or higher?
I appreciate any feedback, or even just links to good guides. I have read up a bit, but I wanted to ask before I did something that might mess up the brew.