bottle conditioning lagers

[Andrewbarnes83]

Hi all,

I'm currently cold-crashing my first attempt at a lager at 1 degree which I'm going to be bottling. I have been cold crashing all of my ales at this temp for up to 10 days (mainly using us05) and have not had any issues with carbonating bottles.

Am I likely to have any issues carbonating my bottles if I do this with lager yeast, given that lager yeast is supposed to be more highly flocculant? Does anyone have any experience with bottle conditioning lagers?

Thanks, sorry if this question has been previously answered in the forums

 

[yankinoz]

Since you are going to cold condition for a long time after bottling and carbonation, why bother to cold crash? Just prime, bottle and leave at 18 or so for at least a week. Then chill. It will clear later on, at near zero temperature. I've bottle conditioned a few lagers. Be warned; they can take a long time in lagering to reach their best. An Oktoberfest last year fermented with S-23 yeast took 4 months to reach its best.

 

[kaiserben]

I've asked same/similar question recently and the short answer is: No, you won't have any problems with carbonation.

I'm actually fermenting (without an ability to cold crash), then carbing in bottle (at room temp), and then lagering. But that's more due to my equipment than anything else. And that has been working very well for me.

 

[verysupple]

I haven't had trouble with bottles carbonating when bottled after 3 - 4 weeks of lagering.

Note that lager yeast isn't necessarily more flocculent. Ale strains can be anywhere from non-flocculent to highly flocculent. Lager strains vary too but are generally medium flocculators, so could be more or less flocculent depending on what you compare it to.

 

[Andrewbarnes83]

Thanks everyone for the quick replies