Lagering in the primary

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Skinner

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I brewed an Alt on New Years Day and it's currently sitting in the primary at around 64F. I plan on keeping it there for another 2 to 3 weeks then I want to lager it for 3 weeks or so before bottling. Should I rack to secondary for lagering purposes or just leave it in the primary? My gut says primary but I'm wondering about the pros and cons.

I plan to lager at around 40F if that makes any difference.

Cheers!
Kevin
 
petep1980 said:
Lagers should be clean beers, so you'll want to get it off the yeast cake once primary fermentation is done.
Click to expand...

+1, except Alt's are ales. It would be best to transfer first. It's not really necessary to lager that style, but it won't hurt either.




_
 
It's not a lager, I'm just lagering it. The recipe is based on JZ's Dusseldorf Alt. He suggests lagering for 4 weeks before bottling. From what I've read about Alts lagering after fermentation is complete is common practice.

K
 
Skinner said:
It's not a lager, I'm just lagering it. The recipe is based on JZ's Dusseldorf Alt. He suggests lagering for 4 weeks before bottling. From what I've read about Alts lagering after fermentation is complete is common practice.

K
Click to expand...

Perfectly fine, just get it off the cake first.
 
Since you are "lagering" just to basically clear the beer and drop the yeast you can do it either way. I have done a kolsch "lagering" in the primary. As long as you are careful transferring when bottling/kegging you will be fine. Secondary will be a little better as far as less yeast, but not sure its worth the trouble when adding an extra step and risking infection.
 
jheist, I was thinking the same thing concerning simplicity and risk of infection.

I've still got a few weeks to wait - I'll make up my mine then.

Thanks!
K
 
If it helps that Kolsch was one of the cleanest beers I've made, bright and clear!
 

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