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🍺 Craft Lagers: ingredients and fermentation choices to refine your brews

Dear Brewers,

Isn’t it time to strengthen your Lager range?

From crisp Bohemian Pilsners and Helles to Vienna Lagers, Märzens, Dunkels, and Bocks, today’s craft brewers are revisiting Lager styles with greater precision in both recipe design and fermentation management.

🌾 Malts and adjuncts to build your Lager profile

Lager brewing starts with the right fermentable base. Pilsen malt typically provides a clean, highly fermentable foundation, while Vienna and Munich malts help build colour, malt depth, and fullness. Light caramel malts can support foam and body, while darker roasted malts may be used in restrained proportions to develop colour and complexity in darker Lager styles. Rice and maize flakes remain valuable tools for brewers targeting a lighter body, a cleaner finish, and high drinkability.



🌾 Discover our recommended selection for Lager brewing:

Malt Château Pilsen 2RS – the essential base malt for clean, elegant Lagers. With high extract potential and strong diastatic power, it delivers excellent drinkability and a clean malt profile. Usable up to 100% of the grist.

Malt Château Vienna– with a rounded malt profile, subtle toasted notes and a warmer golden hue, it is ideal for Vienna Lagers and Märzens.

Malts Château Munich & Munich Light – for richer amber to dark Lager profiles, with deeper malt intensity and pronounced toasted bread and honey notes, ideal for Bocks, Märzens and Dunkels.

Malt Château Cara Clair – improves body and foam stability without excessive sweetness, while contributing a smoother palate. Usable up to 30%.

Rice Flakes – for a lighter body and a crisp, dry finish, with a neutral flavour contribution. Suitable for American-style Lagers.

Maize Flakes – for a lighter body with a softer cereal sweetness, helping to produce easy-drinking beers with a slightly rounder palate than rice. Well-suited to American Lagers.

Looking to brew organic Lagers? 🌿

Explore our Wide Range of Certified Organic Malts!

As an official Fermentis distributor, Castle Malting offers a complete range of fermentation solutions to support both classic and modern Lager expressions.

🍺 Lager fermentation relies on Saccharomyces pastorianus, a bottom-fermenting yeast that thrives at lower temperatures (12–14°C), producing clean, crisp and highly drinkable beers. Fermentis has developed six SafLager™ strains to cover every style and brewing ambition:



SafLager™ W-34/70 – The strong and robust Lager yeast, ideal for neutral and traditional Lagers
A famous brewer's yeast strain from Weihenstephan, Germany. It gives extremely clean flavors and produces highly drinkable beers across a wide range of fermentation conditions. Ideal for Pilsners, Viennas, and Schwarzbiers.

SafLager™ S-189 – A great yeast for elegant Lagers with floral notes
Originating from the Hürlimann brewery in Switzerland, it tends to produce noticeable herbal and floral notes. Ideal for Bohemian Pilsners, special Lagers, and Cold IPAs.

SafLager™ S-23 – The solution for fruity and hoppy Lagers
A brewer's yeast originating from Berlin, Germany, recommended for more estery and complex Lagers. The ideal choice for Helles, Vienna Lagers, Märzens, and hoppy Lagers.

SafLager™ SH-45 – Ideal for hop-forward Lagers
The newest addition to the SafLager™ range, selected for its ability to release and esterify thiols, delivering intensified citrus and tropical notes. Perfect for Cold IPAs, IPLs, and New Zealand Pilsners.

SafLager™ E-30 – A strong ester-producing yeast for fruit-forward Lagers
A versatile and aromatic choice, producing higher levels of esters, especially fruity esters with banana characters. Ideal for Bocks, strong Lagers, and Lagers with fruity notes.

SafBrew™ LD-20 – The All-In-1™ yeast and enzyme blend for dry Lagers
A unique blend of yeast and enzymes, capable of apparent attenuation between 98 and 100%. The go-to solution for highly attenuated Lager beers with up to 20% less carbohydrates.

💡 Tip: Some strains tolerate higher temperatures. The W-34/70, for instance, can ferment at 18–20°C without altering the flavor profile, while improving fermentation kinetics – a real asset when it comes to optimising your brewing cycles.

Discover our Malts

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Discover our Flakes

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Discover our Yeasts

Alongside malt and yeast selection, do not forget hops: hop choice remains essential in shaping bitterness, aroma, and overall Lager balance.

🎯A few key technical recommendations for brewing exceptional Lagers :

To achieve a clear, dry Lager, aim for a low mash pH (5.2–5.4) and avoid excessively hard water. Also, avoid mashing at excessively high temperatures: promoting beta-amylase activity is key to a well-attenuated, sessionable Lager.

Temperature control is everything. Maintain fermentation at 12–14°C, then gradually raise to 15–18°C for 1 to 2 days to eliminate diacetyl and acetaldehyde. Finally, don't skip the lagering: a long, cold rest (0–2°C) over several weeks will make all the difference in terms of clarity and aromatic stability in your finished beer.

Explore our Recipe Suggestion

📩 Need support with your next Lager recipe?

Whether you are developing a clean Pilsner, a fuller Vienna Lager, a malt-driven Dunkel, or a hop-forward modern Lager, our team can help you select the right malt and Fermentis yeast combination for your target profile.

Warm regards,
Castle Malting Team
info@castlemalting.com
www.castlemalting.com
Tel: +32 87 66 20 95