Paul,
there is a conflicting statement in your post.
This one:
bigpaul said:
I only plan at this stage in brewing lager type beers so aging does not really come into it!
In the case of a lager, particularly if an All Grain lager with a real lager yeast, then aging (lagering) most definitely is needed. The longer the better, but four weeks is good. This must be at cold temperatures for best results. 0-4 degrees is often cited.
It sounds like your friends are advocating the use of a secondary fermentation vessel, often referred to as "transferring to secondary" on this site. This normally happens when the wort is nearly finished fermenting, but not totally finished.
The idea is to reduce the amount of sedimentation in the bottom of the fermenter and it allows less off it to be transferred by accident to the kegs when kegging.
I personally don't follow this process. Instead I let my beers finish fermenting and then "cold crash" them in the primary vessel.
If an ale I will keg it after 4-5 days cold crashing. If a lager, my cold crashing doubles as my lagering an goes on for about 2 weeks, then is finished under gas in the kegs.
Cold crashing packs down the sediment and yeast into a cake like formation on the bottom of the fermenter. It can become very compact over time so I find I don't get much sediment into my kegs.
Your beer could well spoil if not kept cool. If naturally carbonating in a keg however it should be right if kept around 20 degrees for a couple of weeks. It can be treated as 1 big bottle in this instance.
Cheers,
D80