Lagering & Bottle Conditioning

[Hop To It]

Hi all

I have done a couple of AG ales and now looking to do an AG Bohemian Lager recipe I have found.

I plan to ferment at 10deg for 2-3 weeks (or as long as it takes) and then when there’s 2-5 points left to go raise the temperature to 20deg for a couple of days to do a diacetyl rest.

Now this is where I am a little confused.

Do I then prim and bottle and keep at 20deg for a further couple of weeks to bottle condition before dropping the temperature to near zero to lager for a period of time?

Or do I leave in the FV and drop the temperature to near zero to lager and then prim and bottle for conditioning afterwards? If so what happens once bottled?

Everywhere I read doesn’t seem to answer this for me.

Cheers

 

[Ajhutch]

I’m brewing a bohemian Pilsner as we speak. I’m lagering in the FV. One of the things that is happening in that phase is the beer is clearing as proteins precipitate out of the beer. If you lager in the bottle, the stuff that drops out will obviously still be in the bottle, so you’d need to pour very carefully to get a crystal clear beer. There may well be other reasons why lagering in bulk is preferable in terms of development of melanoiden flavours and such like but I’m not well read or experienced on that.

There’s a question about whether after a month or so at 1C there will be enough healthy yeast still in suspension to carbonate the lager, I’m undecided myself on whether or not I will add more yeast. More experienced lager brewers should be able to give their views on that. Most of the articles particularly on US websites seem to assume that brewers will force carbonate their lager in a keg after lagering.

 

[Hop To It]

I think this is where the disconnect is as it's assumed all force carb in a keg so everything I have read doesn't go into much detail that makes it clear to me.

On further thought I am thinking of lagering in the FV and then priming and bottling but unsure what temperature to do this at, would it be 10deg again or warmer at 20deg?

And your question is valid about the healthy yeast available or not to produce the required CO2 for carbing.

Hopefully those more experienced than me on here can point me in the right direction.

 

[BeerCat]

What i do i cold crash for a week and add finings. Then i keg it and bottle the rest. There will be enough yeast to carb up you just need to be patient. After its carbed you can lager it again or leave it somewhere cold. The kegs are ready to drink the next day if cold crashed correctly but the bottles can take 6-8 weeks or more to fully clear again.
Carb your bottles up at 20c. no need to do it at 10.

 

[Hop To It]

Thanks BeerCat!

 

[Bigcol49]

Hi @Hop To It
This page will be of interest to you:
https://www.homebrewing.org/howto-lager-03.html

Owing to illness, I left a milk stout in the cold for about a month and it is definitely undercarbed - not much, but noticibly so.
Either add some of the trub to the bottling bucket when batch priming or add about 1/3 of a packet of yeast.
The first method will lead to a little more sediment in the bottom of the bottle but that's better than flat beer.
It may be profitable to leave the bottles in the warm for one week longer than you normally would just to make sure they are carbed up.

 

[Hop To It]

Hi Bigcol,

Now I am torn! Below is the last paragraph from the link you provided. If my understanding is correct it is recommending after the diacetyl rest to bottle, prim and back into the controlled chamber at 20deg before dropping the temperature to near zero until I can't wait any longer!

So, as a rule, while it's always easier to do the primary fermentation in a single large bucket or carboy, if you want to eventually have bottled lager, you're better off doing the bottling at the end of your diacetyl rest. That way, you can just pull out the bottles when you're ready to drink them, and you'll be pouring the clearest beer possible.