As touched on here, having CO2 present has the extremely important benefit of reducing/eleminating the presence of oxygen - the greatest fiend of beer.
One thing to think about is...............the yeast produces CO2. ---> and then lots of people go blowing CO2 from a bottle through their bier prior to lagering, and then try and force CO2 into a solution, out of which CO2 has just come...?????
I understand everyone has different equipment, and thus not always able to operate like a brewery, however if possible, one could try the following example:
- Ferment in primary fermenter until 80-85% of the way through fermentation.
- "rack" into a keg. Seal the keg with a pressure guage and relief valve on the fitting (
https://www.brauerei-shop.eu/Spundomat-SOLO-KEG-EinzelSpunder-f-Zapfkopf-Keg)
- check the pressure regularly to make sure you hit your desired carbonation level. (There are tables for CO2-Level vs. Pressure vs. Temp. But from the top of my head and experience, at 1deg and 0.5-0.6bar you'll come in well at around 5g/l CO2)
Bear in mind, with this method you'll still have a bit of sediment/yeast in the bottom of the keg. From here you could either transfer it to another keg a week before you're ready to tap it, making sure not to disturb the first keg before transferring.
Or if you're confident your beer has cleared up well, tap it straight out of the first keg.
Like so a many things in brewing, it's a matter of favouring the comprises that are least painful for you. Because either way, there will be compromises.
I've heard (from trained Braumeisters in Germany) that there have been studies into flavour differences between force-carbonated and naturally-carbonated lagerating techniques. some say that naturural-carbonation results in a softer more pleasant taste/mouthfeel. However I've also heard from otheres that there's no difference.
Give it a go. Document your techniques and findings, and work out what works best for you.
