Bottle Conditioning Lager

[aamcle]

Morning All.

Just to get something out of the way, I like bottles they suit the amount I drink and I have no intention of serving from a keg.

Currently I have a lager sitting in a Corny at 0°C under Co2 to force carb prior to being bottled via a counter pressure filler.

That's Ok but it's a lot of messing about the CP filler works but it's still more trouble than a bottling wand.

My usual process is ferment, cold crash, transfer to bottling vessel, bulk prime and bottle.

For a lager I need to include the lagering step and I'd very much prefer not to have an extra transfer, if you know a way of avoiding it would you please share it?

Would this work?

Lager at 0°C for an amount of time, dissolve and chill the priming sugar add that and some bottling yeast (F2) to the lagering vessel. Give it a mix leave to settle again then after 2-3 days bottle and condition in the bottle.


Thanks All. Aamcle

 

[ESBrewer]

Not being a lagering specialist, but you can add priming sugar solution straight to the bottles (be careful with the amount, though). This way you could avoid the bottling bucket. The downside with mixing in the conditioning vessel is that you may disturb the sediment formed during cold conditioning.

 

[GoeHaarden]

For a lager I need to include the lagering step

You don't need to lager it just because it's a lager. You could always lager the bottles after they're primed. Follow the above advise and add the priming sugar individually to the bottles, once they have carb'd to your liking at room temp then put them back into the fridge to lager.

Adding more yeast depends on how long you've lagered. YMMV, but I've lagered for 2-3 months before and didn't pitch more yeast, carb'd up in about 1.5 months.

Also, why force carb when you're planning on bottle conditioning?

 

[Pappers_]

It might be interesting to try:

1. Ferment
2. Cold crash in the fermenter for a week
3. Transfer to bottling bucket and bottle (no additional yeast)
4. Bottle condition at room temp for 2 weeks or until carbed
5. Lager bottles for a month

FWIW, I force carb lagers I make and then use a beer gun to fill some bottles, so the above is an idea, not something I've tried.

 

[aamcle]

I've thought about that, during lagering don't various proteins come out of solution and settling out.

If I lager in bottles will the beer pour clear?


Thanks All.

Aamcle

 

[Gnomebrewer]

you can add priming sugar solution straight to the bottles (be careful with the amount, though).

^^This. I use a 60mL syringe to add priming solution to bottles. Typically I work out how much sugar I want per bottle, then make up a solution that has that amount of sugar per 10 or 15mL of solution. It's really quick and easy and IME more accurate than bulk priming. It also means your beer has less chance of oxidation (from the transfer to bottling bucket). I've mentioned this process in a few threads and mostly had negative comments that it would be slow and messy - it really isn't. Every time I do it (I mostly keg) I think about making a short video to show how easy it is.....one day I'll do it.