Beer Forum

I've currently got a lager in primary, and am trying to nail down exactly how I want to send it through the rest of the process. I've heard various methods that other guys use, but am curious what other BNers recommend. I've brewed 100+ ales at home, but no lagers (only done lagers in a professional setting).

What's your timeline? Do you rack to secondary for lagering? Is it okay to lager in the primary? If you bottle condition (I don't have room for a kegerator in my apt), what yeast do you prime with and how much? Anyone ever bottled after D-rest and lagered in the bottles?

My current plan:
Primary at 52 degrees
D rest
?rack to secondary?
lager at 33 for for 4-6wks
prime with champagne yeast and bottle condition

I pitch a good healthy starter at 44F let it rise to 48F and let it ferment for 3-4 weeks. No D rest, or secondary for me. I will keg it and lager it at 36F for 4-6 weeks.
I would advise against using Champagne yeast at bottling. This will dry the beer out to much, and give you the wrong flavor profile.Your beer will have a sufficient amount of yeast to carbonate when adding dry malt extract, or priming sugar.

Listen to the latest brew strong, on ... lagering. It covers bottle conditioning.

My process is similar to hotrod, except that I raise the temperature near the end of fermentation as suggested on the BN to aid attenuation and maturation. This step is not strictly necessary, I just like to do it because it makes my fermentation fridge available more quickly After maturation, I bring it down as cold as the fridge will take it (36°), fine with gelatin for a couple of days, then bottle as normal. I keep the bottles at room temp until carbonated, usually around 2 weeks, then keep in the fridge until serving. Lagering time depends on the OG.