Bottling a Lager

Well since the time is right in Ohio and the temperatures are cool I prefer to take advantage of this by doing as many lagers as I can. The temperatures are perfect in my house since I only keep it at 55F. Then after primary I move it to the basement where to temperature is about 40-42F for secondary. Now the problem is my chest freezer only has room for three kegs but can hold a lot of bottles if I stack things correctly.

Anyway my question is when do I bottle lagers? Directly prior to lagering or should I let it sit at secondary fermentation temps for a couple of weeks then move to lagering? Do I need to use more sugar than I would normally for an ale that is bottle conditioned at 72F?

The only problem is there is no place in my house above about 60F.

Any advice?

yeah, turn the heat on!!! That's toooooo cold!

well it may be to cold for some people to live but as me and my roomies dont want to pay for gas that is not really an option. (btw gas bill is under 70 bucks a month in the winter which is sweet).

Anyway for primary fermentation for a lager going above 55F is not a good thing (aside from the diacetly rest which should not break 65F preferably a little less even). Secondary should be as close to 40F as possible and lagering should be down to about 33F. Now these are all ballpark figures depending on the style of beer your going for among other things.

Anyway i was thinking of just lagering in a keg, pressurizing that way, then bottling it from the keg even though i find that to be a huge PITA.