Bulk vs. Bottle Lagering

I'm pretty sure my Dortmundor Export has been done fermenting for a week. I haven't checked the gravity yet to make sure.

Anyway, with the arrival of my minifridge, I have the option of bulk lagering in a 5 gallon carboy or bottling, carbing, and then bottle lagering.

Are there any particular advantages to either method?

If I'm bottling, I prefer to bottle lager simply because it's easier. If you plan on bulk lagering, you will probably have to add new yeast at bottling time in order to carbonate.

The only real noticeable difference is bottling after lagering is less sediment in the bottles. I add a few grams of dry yeast to the bottling bucket and it carbs in about a week anyway. I liked the results so much that I started crashing my ales for a week and then bottling them with more yeast. I'm a fan of T-58 because when the beer is cleared it done carbonating and the yeast makes a firm sediment that sticks well to the bottom of the bottles.

Cool. If it doesn't make a lot of difference, I'll do a bottle count tonight. If I have enough, I'll bottle this weekend and then carb. If I don't have enough, then I'll rack into a secondary, lager, and repitch at bottling.

And I'll put in an order for a mini-keg setup I've been eyeballing.

Personally, I'd bulk lager, because the airlock will allow any compounds that don't taste so great to evaporate out. There may not be a lot of sound science to that, but it makes sense to me. If you lager the bottle, the potential off-flavor compounds don't have anywhere to go, except to within the bottle.

I did my bottle count. I have enough, but they are mostly 12oz-ers. I'd rather wait until I have more pints available. That and I don't think I have enough time to bottle and brew Sunday. So I'll rack and bulk lager and repitch.