Best Method for Lagering

[NoVaBrewer]

Hello brewers, I've recently tapped my first Lager with fair results (a little oxidation and too low a hopping rate).
I have a thermostatic and a Fridge, after a 9 day primary ferment, I rack to a secondary carboy for 6 weeks then keg it, forcer carbonating.
Is there a better way I could be doing this procedure?
Much Thanks

 

[wolfman_48442]

A pretty popular method (and the one I use) is the Narziss method and it goes something like this:

Wort is chilled below fermentation temp and yeast is pitched. (say 45 F)
The temp is then gradually raised to fermentation temp (say 50 f)
This temp is maintained until fermentation is 75-80% complete.
Temp is then raised 10 F to rouse yeast and allow them to clean up any undesirable compounds.
This temp is maintained until final gravity is reached.
Beer is then cold crashed and racked to lagering vessel.

It's very difficult to give times because they are very subject to change.
A smaller beer may well be as good as it will get after 6 weeks lagering. A big doppel will benefit from 6 months, or even a year.

 

[NoVaBrewer]

What is a good vessel for lager, I'm thinking keg this time

 

[wolfman_48442]

If you have corny kegs, they work fantastic for fermentation, lagering, you name it.
Kegs give you the ability to transfer beer between vessels that have been purged with CO2 using counter-pressure; completely eliminating oxidation worries.
Glass carboys will work fine as well, they're just a little more delicate and require more careful transfer/racking procedure to try and avoid oxygen as much as possible.
There is some disagreement on this, but I feel that any time you have beer in a vessel for over a month, you shouldn't use plastic of any type. I feel that there's too much oxygen permeability in plastic and you will get oxidation.

 

[NoVaBrewer]

Thanks for the advice, I think I'll switch to keg fermenters from now on, I imagine they ate also good for yeast harvesting given that the dip tub would be submerged in the Trub