Can you lager in the bottle?

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landmissle

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I've completed about 13 batches of extract based brewing and always bottle my beer. Really enjoying this hobby and the product of my labor.

I want to try my hand at an altbier kit as provided by Morebeer! AltBier Extract Kit. I currently control my fermentation temperature in a Cool Brewing jacketed enclosure. With an ambient temperature of 75 degrees F in the house, I can easily get the wort in my 7 gallon Fermonster down to the low 60s and likely the high 50s.

The altbier kit calls for a lager stage of the beer at 40 F for four to eight weeks. I know I can't reach or maintain that temperature in my enclosure, so I've been thinking about alternative ways to obtain lager temperatures since I don't have a secondary refrigerator and even if I did, space is a concern.

Since I bottle my beer, could I do the lager step right after bottling? While I wouldn't be able to do all of a 5 gallon batch in our primary refrigerator ( kept at 34 F) at once, I could stage a set of bottles in the fridge; say 20 at a time.

I've done some reading on lagering in the bottle and there seems to be mixed opinions on if it can be done. My understanding is it would not be the best way to do it, but it is possible with one negative being the collection of more sediment in the bottle.

Any current opinions on the topic would be greatly appreciated.
 
Yes lagering in the bottle would work. Just carb the bottles at room temp for a few weeks first, then store them in the fridge. For an altbier, personally 8 weeks is a long time. You will be fine after a month.
 
I used to Lager in the bottle; 2 weeks in warm temperature and then 2 weeks in a fridge then the first tasting. That worked beautifully. I have since bought a kegerator with 3 taps and use it lager now. Also works great. One advantage is the ability to do a burst carbonation for 2 days (@ 28-30 psi) after filling the keg (and before connecting the out (black) disconnect). After 2 days set the keg to serving pressure, connecting the out disconnect and taste the result before leaving the keg to lager for a few weeks.
 

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