cdanprice

Recipes 

I'm bottling my first lager tomorrow. It fermented over 3 weeks and has lagered for another 3 in secondary and plan to naturally carbonate. Should I pitch new yeast prior to bottling, or is there enough still there to carbonate?
Also, what temp should I allow for carbonation?

IowaStateFan

Recipes 

No need for more yeast. I had a lager sit for 4 months in the secondary and it carbed up fine. I experimented by adding yeast to 1/2 the batch during bottling. The portion that I added yeast to did carb a bit faster - 3 weeks vs. 5 - but it also had significantly more sediment.

Bottle condition at about 70 for 3 to 4 weeks until they are carbed. After that you can chill to serving temp.

menschmaschine

Recipes 

Only if using dextrose

Jack

Recipes 

Why only dextrose?

menschmaschine

Recipes 

Well, at least not a malt-based sugar (DME, saved wort, etc.). Lager yeasts can produce fruity off-flavors during fermentation (or carbonation) if done at too warm temps (compared to the optimum range for primary fermentation). So, say you wanted to brew a lager per the Reinheitsgebot. You could use saved wort for carbonation, but you'd have to carb at primary fermentation temps to avoid potential fruitiness, e.g., 50dF. Lager yeasts ferment dextrose clean at room temp. So, it's OK to carb lagers at room temp if you're using dextrose.