what comes first crashing or lagering? ( not driving related)

[Craig_teesside]

I seem to have gotten confused, my first batch just about finished so I shoved the whole thing in the fridge to C-crash it. I thought I do this to clarify it pre bottling. But I'm reading people ask how to cc it after lagering. My intention was to bottle after a few days crashing then store at around 16c (ambient) to carbonate for a few weeks and then store as much as possible back in the fridge for as long as I resist. Going to leave as much as I can as long as I can and keep records. Cheers in advance. I've been a bit sluggish replying to previous responses as I'm a bit overwhelmed, 3 brews ongoing :-o

 

[Ghillie]

I seem to have gotten confused, my first batch just about finished so I shoved the whole thing in the fridge to C-crash it. I thought I do this to clarify it pre bottling. But I'm reading people ask how to cc it after lagering. My intention was to bottle after a few days crashing then store at around 16c (ambient) to carbonate for a few weeks and then store as much as possible back in the fridge for as long as I resist. Going to leave as much as I can as long as I can and keep records. Cheers in advance. I've been a bit sluggish replying to previous responses as I'm a bit overwhelmed, 3 brews ongoing :-o View attachment 20819

For lagering, people would argue you don’t want it sitting on trub for lagering. So seeing as you’re bottle conditioning:

Cold crash, rack to secondary, lager, rack to bottling bucket, bottle, store at room temp (but ideally the same temperature you fermented at) for about 2 weeks, chill and serve. There will be the slightest amount of sediment to settle out but it should be barely noticeable with a good cold crash and use of a bottling bucket.

This means you only transfer the clearest beer to your bottles.

When kegging, you can skip the secondary and lagering by simply cold crashing then racking to the keg and leaving alone for a while. The lagering and secondary is technically the same thing.

Can you lager in bottles, probably. Will it give as good results as lagering in an FV, probably not.

As it’s your first brew (and you’ve probably picked the hardest beer to get right) I wouldn’t worry too much at this stage.

 

[Craig_teesside]

Thanks ghillie, I may risk secondary in another bin but I'm already attracting fruit /vinegar? flies like crazy and want to bottle asap. I live very close to pubs and their empty bottle bins, how do you cope as a landlord? I used to pop into one of those pubs and it always stank of vinegar I never knew why then, I always thought a large amount of fish and chip sales, but probably not.

 

[marshbrewer]

I always;

Ferment. Cold crash. Then package (bottle). Store for a couple of weeks at fermentation temp to carb up, then store at lagering temps until ready.

 

[Ghillie]

Thanks ghillie, I may risk secondary in another bin but I'm already attracting fruit /vinegar? flies like crazy and want to bottle asap. I live very close to pubs and their empty bottle bins, how do you cope as a landlord? I used to pop into one of those pubs and it always stank of vinegar I never knew why then, I always thought a large amount of fish and chip sales, but probably not.

There’s no risk providing you’ve sanitised properly and transferred with minimal oxygen exposure.

FYI, I always ferment and lager in the same FV. 8 weeks with no issue. Save yourself the hassle and give it a go if you want. Means there’s no need to transfer to secondary and technically the lagering and cold crashing is done at the same time. There should be enough residual yeast to carb your bottles, but I can’t confirm that. Those who bottle condition will keep you right.

Regarding the fruit flies, non issue. Assuming they can’t swim through your airlock and you have a definite seal on your FV. Whatsmore is that they shouldn’t be able to get into your fridge anyway.

Did you ramp up temperatures for a couple of days for a diacytl rest before cold crashing? If not, you might have beer that tastes a bit like popcorn.

 

[BeerCat]

There is no problem leaving it on the yeast for months if you want to. It's a good idea to add some finings once you get it down to 0c to help with clarity. You can add fresh yeast when you bottle which seems to be a popular option. If you don't it will still carb but will take longer.

 

[Craig_teesside]

Whoops, no I didn't ramp up the temperature and I did add finings probably a bit too early. I also left it in fridge at about 1c( eventually) for 5 days. (I was exhausted). I bottled into 2l bottles as I haven't got spare brew tub yet. It's pretty damn clear and I'm hoping for a decent result. If it tastes like popcorn I'll be okay as long as it doesn't taste like wet bread. I've stumbled on another issue, if I bottle at 1-2 degree c and intend to carbonate at 22c should I wait until bottles reach 22 before I tighten caps or even add sugar. There will be 2 different expansions going on and one of those will be semi aerobic and the other issue is, is the pressure thermal or gaseous.