3 week trip - how to ferment & condition a BoPils

[renstyle]

The month of June I'll be away from home for work. At least 2, likely 3 weeks. I have space in my keezer and I want to fill it with a keg or two of a BoPils I'm planning to brew in the next few days.

Using SafLager 34/70, and will be fermenting in corny kegs.

I have two routes which I've been pondering:

Option #1: Bump the keezer temp to 11C/52F and run do a standard primary fermentation for 3 weeks, then do a D-rest when I return. The brown ale and porter (soon) already conditioning won't mind the slight bump in temp.

When I return, I'd pressure-xfer to a purged serving keg, burst carbonate and continue lagering with the temp back down to normal 8C.

Option #2: Pressure ferment the batch to FG, say 5-10PSI at 16-18C/60-64F in the ferm chamber over the course of 5-7 days, cold crash, then pressure-xfer over to a purged serving keg to lager for the 3 weeks in my (currently) 8C/46F keezer.

My thinking, and feel free to correct me if I'm off, is that a D-rest shouldn't be <AS> necessary for a lager fermented under pressure when started near the beginning of fermentation? So I could potentially have the BoPils ready to drink by 4th of July with no additional work?

I'm skipping any finings on this batch, will let old fashioned time clear this one.

 

[monkeymath]

I've never done pressurized fermentations, but I really see no need to rush things here. Give the yeast the time it needs. Don't try and rush it just because you'll be away from home.
And you certainly won't need a diacetyl-rest after three weeks (assuming you pitch an adequate of month of reasonably healthy yeast).

Option #1 all the way.

 

[renstyle]

For option #1, I was going to play it safe and pitch two 34/70 packets, which (I hope) should be sufficient to ferment out a 19L/4.5gal batch @ 11C/52F.

I had not considered that a 15-21 day primary could potentially obviate the need for a D-rest, I'll watch (well, taste) for that at transfer time.

hmmm... maybe I could make this a teachable moment and do one keg of each. I have room for 2 kegs, not sure if I'll have time tho.