Questions about bottling lagers.

[losman26]

I'm going to be bottling up a lager soon, and since this is my first one I wanted to know if the procedure is any different than doing ales.

For instance, should I bring the beer back to room temp when adding the sugar? Once I have the beer bottled, do I let it carbonate for 2 weeks, then move them to a cold area?

Also, I have been lagering in my secondary for 2 weeks. I started out at 46F, and moved it outside last week to drop the temp to the 30's. Should I let it lager in the secondary longer? I have quite of bit of head space, so that's why I'm thinking of bottling right away. It's not a really high gravity brew 1.040 with a SG of 1.007. I did use only one smack pack as well, no starter which I probably should've done.

Thanks!

 

[osagedr]

(a) the rule-of-thumb is to lager 1 week per eight gravity points. That's pretty long though. Plus you can bottle then lager afterward.

(b) your lager has yeast that will work at a temperature much cooler than room temperature. Some have said to carbonate at the highest temperature reached during fermentation, which for many brewers would be the d-rest. If you didn't do a d-rest then I would feel safe telling you to bottle condition in the high 50s, which is the upper range for most lager strains.

(c) one possible strategy is to introduce more yeast for bottle-conditioning. You could re-hydrate say 1/3 to 1/2 a pack of a clean ale yeast like US-05, mix it into your bottling bucket, and carbonate in the low 60's. Or you could do something similar using a clean lager yeast like W-34/70 and condition in the mid-to-high 50s.

Really if I were doing it in your situation I would bottle the beer and condition it around 60 degrees for a month, either without adding any new yeast or with adding 1/3 of a pack of clean ale or lager yeast.

 

[losman26]

I did a d-rest. Then started lagering in the 50's slowly decreasing it to the mid 30's where I have it now. Do you think that I have enough yeast cells to carbonate? I didn't get any trub into the secondary as well. I used Wyeast Bohemian lager yeast, no starter. I have plenty of US-5 on hand, or could pick up some lager yeast at the brew store.

 

[osagedr]

Yes, I think you have enough yeast cells to carbonate. The question is whether you're willing to bet a batch of beer on it. Lots and lots and lots of brewers have reported that enough yeast remains to carbonate lagers, even after a lot longer periods of cold storage than you are reporting. So my guess is that you would be okay bottling and conditioning around 60.

If you are really risk-averse, pick up some W-34/70 dry yeast (same strain as Wyeast 2124), rehydrate half a pack and add it to your bottling bucket, or just use the US-05 you already have. I'd probably use the lager strain unless I had no option but to condition in the 70's.

Adding yeast at bottling is kinda like d-resting--absolutely not necessary in most cases, but very little trouble and has the potential to save you some misery.

 

[losman26]

Thanks for your help. My LHBS only has the S-23 yeast, would it be ok to add that? Also what are the chances of bottle bombs going off? Do I bottle right away? The last belgian batch I made, you had to add yeast 3 days prior to bottling. If I add the yeast to the bottling bucket with the priming sugar, do I put the yeast after the sugar, before, or after I add the beer to the sugar?

 

[osagedr]

S-23 will work fine; people find it very clean up to 60 degrees.

My understanding is that bottle bombs are caused by excessive priming material (sometimes due to incomplete fermentation), not excessive yeast. If the yeast don't have anything to eat, they go dormant.

It won't matter when you put the yeast in vs. the sugar; about the only thing you can do wrong is put your yeast in your priming solution, which would kill the yeast given how warm your solution should be. Start rehydrating your yeast as per manufacturer's instructions) about half an hour before you are going to bottle. When everything is set up (gently) stir in your yeast and sugar. Bottle as usual, store at 60 for four weeks.