Lagering on yeast or racking to secondary?

[samie85]

The question is: Should I rack an O-fest off it's yeast for lagering? I'll be bottling this so I'm worried that if I rack off the yeast I'll have problems with carbonation since I'm bottle-conditioning the beer.

Also, is lagering even necessary when using a an ale yeast like US-05 fermented at cool temp.s for a faux-lager?

What does everyone think?

 

[BenS]

That's alot of stuff.... are you lagering an ale brewed with us-05?
And as an anwser, you won't have a problem bottle carbing after bulk lagering. It just might take 3-4 weeks.

 

[BenS]

That's alot of stuff.... are you lagering an ale brewed with us-05?
And as an anwser, you won't have a problem bottle carbing after bulk lagering. It just might take 3-4 weeks.

 

[samie85]

That's alot of stuff.... are you lagering an ale brewed with us-05?
And as an anwser, you won't have a problem bottle carbing after bulk lagering. It just might take 3-4 weeks.

Sorry for the confusion. I'm doing an oktoberfest with US-05, and trying to ferment as close to 60F as possible. I'm wondering when I go to lager this beer if I should rack the beer off of the yeast or just throw the primary in the fridge as is?

My other question was: Is lagering even necessary in this situation (attempting a lager style with an ale yeast)?

 

[Yooper]

Sorry for the confusion. I'm doing an oktoberfest with US-05, and trying to ferment as close to 60F as possible. I'm wondering when I go to lager this beer if I should rack the beer off of the yeast or just throw the primary in the fridge as is?

My other question was: Is lagering even necessary in this situation (attempting a lager style with an ale yeast)?

Rack off of the yeast cake before lagering. You want a "cleaner" taste.

Lagering is never "necessary", but it does provide some benefits you won't get otherwise. Cold conditioning smooths out the beer, makes it clearer, etc.

You won't get a real Oktoberfest with an ale yeast, but you can get a very nice beer. One issue I've heard with S05 at low temperatures is a "peachy" ester taste. I've never used S05 under 62, so I don't know that for sure. I've use nottingham at 60 degrees with wonderful results, though, for a pseudo lager. In that case, I cold conditioned the carboy for about 4 weeks before bottling.

You should have plenty of yeast for bottling, but I'd recommend buy a new package of S05, and adding just about 1/3 package to your (cooled) priming solution in your bottling bucket when you bottle. Stir that well, then rack the beer into it. That will ensure complete carbonation.

 

[Malticulous]

I recommend crashing it in primary and adding 2 grams of rehydrated gelatin. Allow that to sit as cold as possible for three days then bottle adding one gram of dry yeast.

I have used US-05 that cold and the only issue I've had is a tartness. Pitching cold an letting it warm up a degree or two a day makes for better beer (and faster too.)