How to Ferment Lager in Conical?

[drunkenmonk]

I've had a conical fermenter (Blichmann Fermenator) for a few years and am making my first lager in it. When I ferment ales, I periodically open the bottom valve during the first week of fermentation to remove trub and then later to remove the yeast once it's fallen. How do you remove trub when fermentating a lager without removing the bottom-fermenting yeast and without having to rack into another fermenter?

 

[bzomerlei]

I have dumped lagers the same way I do ales, although I probably dump less volume when it is a lager. I crack the bottom valve a little until the trub start flowing and then collect about 8-12 oz of the thick slurry. When it starts running thinner, I close the valve.

I have not had any issues with fermentation slowing down.

 

[StMarcos]

I wait several hours after transferring but before pitching. I have to do this as the groundwater will not chill to lager pitch temps, but the ferm controller will. I use this opportunity/necessity to dump some cold break. I might generally do only one more dump a couple weeks later, after the ferm has wound down. I imagine that there should still be plenty of yeast, either in suspension or stuck to the walls to allow diacetyl rests and/or conditioning to continue. I often transfer to kegs to free up the fermenter, lager, then serve from the same keg. Just a bit of junk in the first few pints.

 

[drunkenmonk]

Do you get a lot of off flavors / esters if you pitch lager yeast too warm? I pitched at 80F, immediately put the fermenter in a 60F frig, let fermentation start, and then dropped the frig to 50F the following morning.