Priming Lagers...malt or corn sugar?

I've made the jump to lagering by converting an old freezer with a temp control, but now I'm scrambling to learn more about brewing lagers.

I normally use dry malt to prime my ales during bottling. With the lagers in the secondary for 3 months, is there any trick when bottling to make sure you get carbonation? I'm assuming there is enough yeast still somewhat active, but this is where my experience is lacking. Is it better to use corn sugar instead of dry malt for lagers?

Any general suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks.

won't matter which you use. Dry malt (DME) is fine. Just let the bottles sit at room temp. for a couple weeks to carbonate.

mdeller said:

With the lagers in the secondary for 3 months, is there any trick when bottling to make sure you get carbonation?

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The only way you can really make sure that you get enough active yeast is adding fresh yeast. This can be done via Kraeusen (using actively fermenting wort for priming) or make a small starter (8-10oz should be enough) with a little of the yeast that's on the bottom of the secondary (even better if you have a fresher shource for that yeast) and add this starter and the priming agent (DME will be just fine) at bottling time. If you want to minimize the amount of yeast, make sure that you only add the yeast that is in suspension and not the ones that already settled at the bottom of the starter vessel.

Kai