Lagering and bottle priming

[Fraser's BRB]

So ordinarily when I brew a lager, I will rack off primary into a keg, put a little CO2 on top, seal it and then store at 1-2 deg C for several months before force carbonating and serving, works a treat.

My question is, if I wanted to bottle the same lager and bottle condition it, would you bottle directly from primary, add sugar and store at ferment temps for several weeks, then drop to 1-2 deg for some months for the same effect?

Conversely, would you go through the process I mentioned in the first example, then bottle and add priming sugar and keep at ferment temp? Would there be enough active yeast in suspension after the lagering process for this to work?

 

[unwrittenlaw]

Lallemand have a bottle conditioning yeast that allows you to bottle at lagering temp if you are worried about the primary yeast dropping out of suspension.

http://www.lallemandbrewing.com/product-details/301/

Rehydrate for 20mins in 100-150ml of sterile water, then inject 2-3ml with a syringe into each bottle. Add priming sugar, fill and cap.

The last lager I did, it sat in the primary for 2 weeks at 10deg, 4days at 18deg diacetyl rest, 3 weeks lagering at 3deg. I did not transfer to secondary to avoid risk of infection and oxidation.

I wish I lagered for longer and my fridge could get closer to 0deg but I didn't want the brew on the cake for any longer.

I kegged and bottled at 3deg. It took a few weeks for the keg to come good. If I was to do it again I would probably transfer to secondary after diacetyl rest to lager for 6+weeks at a lower temp then keg/bottle.

 

[manticle]

Lager in fermenter (if primary took more than 2 weeks or you're lagering for more than a week, consider a gentle transfer to a closed vessel like a cube so you can leave the bulk of yeast and other **** behind), then bottle, store at carbonation temps, then chill or store cool and enjoy when the beer is clear and flavour right.

Cold helps drop out the **** you don't want, if you do that in the bottle, it will drop out but can easily be returned to the main liquid if knocked, tipped or agitated. Give yourself the best chance to leave it behind.

 

[kaiserben]

After fermentation is done I lager in primary for ~ 3 weeks at 0-2 degrees C.

I then bulk prime in a bottling bucket and then bottle. I leave the bottles at room temp for 3 weeks before lagering those for as long as possible.

I see improvements the longer I leave the bottles in a fridge. But it's obviously a battle for fridge space with several batches on the go at any one time.

That process could have slight improvements, but it gets the job done.

 

[Fraser's BRB]

Thanks Gents, Kaiserben's options probably sounds closest to what I had in mind, I'll give it a go.

 

[Edd Mather 6]

If you're priming, bulk is best, pop it into a bottling vessel , allow to settle for 12-24 hours , prime then bottle 24 hours afterwards , or bottle @say 1 ° above Racking gravity and don't prime.