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Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from worldwide

Lager (bottom-fermented beer)

Lager is beer fermented cold with a bottom-fermenting hybrid yeast, Saccharomyces pastorianus, and then matured cold, close to 0 °C. The Czech PGI recipe uses pale Pilsner malt, a decoction mash, a long hop boil, a ferment of 14 °C at most and a separate cold second stage. Made in 9 steps over 27 days – 30 days. The longest step, diacetyl rest, then lager near 0 °C, takes 12 days (Thesseling F.A 2019) and runs at 0–4 °C (Publication of the application for the PGI 'Č…). Saccharomyces pastorianus does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step12 daysSet[thesseling2019]Diacetyl rest, then lager near 0 °C
Temperature0–4 °CSet[ceske-pivo][thesseling2019]Diacetyl rest, then lager near 0 °C
AciditypH 4.1–4.8Set[ceske-pivo]Diacetyl rest, then lager near 0 °C

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe České pivo specification fixes the shares of approved malt and Czech hops and the finished beer's numbers, but gives no batch amounts. The yeast rate is from the tested KU Leuven laboratory recipe for 12 L of 12 °P wort.
Pilsner malt from spring two-row barley · At least 80 % of the grist from approved barley varieties in the Czech PGI[ceske-pivo]
Hops · At least 30 % Czech hops for a Czech pale lager; added in up to three stages[ceske-pivo]
Water · Local water, soft to medium-hard[ceske-pivo]
1.5 × 10⁶ cells per mL per °PLager yeast (Saccharomyces pastorianus) · Twice the ale rate; 216 billion cells for 12 L of 12 °P wort[thesseling2019]
Starterdefined-culture (bottom-fermenting lager yeast, Saccharomyces pastorianus)

Total time across the recorded steps: 27 days – 30 days

Start
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Close-up: water moving into a grain13–20 °C

What changes: Water soaks into the barley until the grain holds 40–45 % moisture

Step 1 of 9
Steep the barley
Time
36 h – 2 days
Reported
Temperature
13–20 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
S. pastorianus
Yeasts

Output: wet grain ready to sprout.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Lager uses the same malt, mash and boil as ale but a different yeast and much colder conditions. Its hybrid yeast ferments at 14 °C or less, sinks rather than rises, and the beer then matures separately close to 0 °C. The cold gives fewer esters, so malt and hops lead the flavour.

Yeast
Bottom-fermenting S. pastorianus, a hybrid of ale yeast and the cold-tolerant S. eubayanus
Fermentation temperature
14 °C at most in the Czech PGI, against about 20 °C for ale
Second stage
A separate maturation close to 0 °C

Related ferments

Variants

  • Dark lager (Czech PGI)Dark and coloured malts; colour 50–120 EBC and 3.6–5.7 % alcohol by volume.
  • Pale draught (Czech PGI)Original extract 8.00–10.99 % and 2.8–5.0 % alcohol by volume.

Safety

Boiling sanitises the wort, and alcohol, hops, low pH and CO₂ keep finished beer stable. Fusarium mould on barley can carry mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol into beer, so malting barley is tested for it. WHO says no level of alcohol use is safe for health.

Hazards the sources name: Fusarium on barley, whose mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol survive brewing; Enterobacteria in cooled wort before the yeast takes over.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Lager was first brewed in the 15th century. Golden pale lager spread around the world after the Burghers' Brewery in Plzeň was founded in 1842.

  1. [ceske-pivo] Publication of the application for the PGI 'České pivo', EC No CZ/PGI/005/00375/14.10.2004, Official Journal of the European Union C 16, 23 January 2008, pp. 14–22spec
  2. [thesseling2019] Thesseling F.A., Bircham P.W., Mertens S., Voordeckers K., Verstrepen K.J. 2019, A hands-on guide to brewing and analyzing beer in the laboratory, Current Protocols in Microbiology 54:e91 (KU Leuven and VIB)paper
  3. [libkind2011] Libkind D., Hittinger C.T., Valério E. et al. 2011, Microbe domestication and the identification of the wild genetic stock of lager-brewing yeast, PNAS 108(35):14539–14544paper
  4. [chen2022] Chen W., Cheung H.Y.K., McMillan M., Turkington T.K., Izydorczyk M.S., Gräfenhan T. 2022, The dynamics of indigenous epiphytic bacterial and fungal communities of barley grains through the commercial malting process in Western Canada, Current Research in Food Science 5:1352–1364paper
  5. [jevcsak2026] Jevcsák S., Diósi G., Törős G., Fülep Á., Máthé E. 2026, The role of malting and brewer's spent grain in sustainable cereal utilization, Foods 15(2):287paper
  6. [bokulich2013] Bokulich N.A., Bamforth C.W. 2013, The microbiology of malting and brewing, Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews 77(2):157–172 (University of California, Davis)paper
  7. [who2023] WHO Regional Office for Europe 2023, No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health (statement published in The Lancet Public Health; news release, 4 January 2023)gov