Lagering - What Would You Advise?

[blakie21]

Hi guys

Been reading heapsss of threads and how to's on the internet. Some say lager in primary, some say dont. Some say you can but it will make the beer 'bready'.
Basically I am making a pilsner at the moment and plan to lager it for at least a couple of weeks.

I want to know what you guys think is a good method? I would rather cut out a secondary if I can, I worry about oxidation and infection. So I am considering leaving the beer in primary and crash chilling once the fermentation and D-rest are complete. Leaving the crash chilled primary for a few days, then racking to a keg for lagering AND serving, without a shortened dip tube like suggested a few places.

Would this work well? or do i need to tie up 2 kegs lagering in 1 then transferring to another.

Thanks guys.

 

[donburke]

Hi guys

Been reading heapsss of threads and how to's on the internet. Some say lager in primary, some say dont. Some say you can but it will make the beer 'bready'.
Basically I am making a pilsner at the moment and plan to lager it for at least a couple of weeks.

I want to know what you guys think is a good method? I would rather cut out a secondary if I can, I worry about oxidation and infection. So I am considering leaving the beer in primary and crash chilling once the fermentation and D-rest are complete. Leaving the crash chilled primary for a few days, then racking to a keg for lagering AND serving, without a shortened dip tube like suggested a few places.

Would this work well? or do i need to tie up 2 kegs lagering in 1 then transferring to another.

Thanks guys.

you will be more than fine, i often lager in primary for 2 to 4 weeks with no ill affects

 

[Nick JD]

I don't lager.

The practice was invented before filtering (or finings and polyclar) and as such is like firing up the coal to get your automobile to the store when you can actually just turn the key.

Flame suit [ON]

It's basically just a big load of shit. Try this some time:

Keg a lager that's been fined and polyclared and is only a week old and bottle it. Do the same with a lager held at minus 1 for 3 weeks. Drink them back to back.

Worth all the ******* around? Nope. 3/5 of FA difference, but your fridge was full of your nancyboy lager for 3 freakin weeks.

Disregard this if your primary aim in brewing is winning competitions. There, it might matter if you catch an judge who needs to take a pee.

 

[blakie21]

I don't lager.

The practice was invented before filtering (or finings and polyclar) and as such is like firing up the coal to get your automobile to the store when you can actually just turn the key.

Flame suit [ON]

It's basically just a big load of shit. Try this some time:

Keg a lager that's been fined and polyclared and is only a week old and bottle it. Do the same with a lager held at minus 1 for 3 weeks. Drink them back to back.

Worth all the ******* around? Nope. 3/5 of FA difference, but your fridge was full of your nancyboy lager for 3 freakin weeks.

Disregard this if your primary aim in brewing is winning competitions. There, it might matter if you catch an judge who needs to take a pee.

Haha Wow okay. This was an answer I was sort of hoping for, mainly because of laziness but also because I bought a filter which may be of use.. finally

So maybe I will crash chill and filter then keg and hold off for a few weeks if I can

To be honest I trust your opinion Nick since you have pretty much guided me well on everything else I have asked! Thanks Don also good to know you have done lagering in primary with no issues, might still do this if i CBF filtering.

 

[sgw86]

Not to hijack this thread though lets say I was to lager for 2 weeks in primary is it recommended to let the fermenter warm up to room temp for a day before bottling?

Also with my fermenter fridge I can't fill bottles while it's still in it, so after lagering I will need to move the fermenter from the garage into the house....does this undo the lagering stage, as in if the beer inside moves around slightly will it just make it cloudy again or should it be fine?

 

[Clutch]

I bottle straight out of my lagering fridge and haven't had any issues so far. YMMV
Moving isn't recommended but if you must move it then just let it settle for a while.

 

[brettprevans]

To clarify are u lagering for a period to clean up tge beer or are u using a lager yeast that requires 'lager temps'? It sounds like the former in which case u dont need to esp if u keg as it can 'lager' i.n the keg

Sambo - what ur talking about is a d-rest.which is used when u ferment uding a lager yeadt to.clean up diacytal. In that case yes its required.