Timing issue for lagering my Pilsner

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Gnome-de-brew

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Don't remember my ages old account so I'm a newbie again. Here's my issue:

Brewed 5g batch of my pilsner last Sunday and its sitting in my lagering fridge at 43F. The yeast activity looks great and everything is going according to plan. However, I'm currently unemployed (got laid of last Dec) and looking for jobs. I have a few opportunities in the works but both would require me to relocate. [Insert something about poor judgement moving ahead with a lagered beer] At any rate, you may see the predicament I might find myself in should a job offer materialize. So after a few days of forum sleuthing and other research, I'm still not sure I have a great solution. Should I...

Option A
Secondary to keg (in roughly 10 more days) and lower the fridge to lagering temperature until moving day, then throw the keg in my big ass cooler with an ice bath for it's journey. Then transfer to another keg at the new destination and finish lagering. The cons I can think of are having to constantly release CO2 pressure in the keg secondary, unless I don't mind naturally carbonating. The pros are that a keg is far easier to turn on it's side and into a cooler for transport than a carboy.

Option B
Secondary into carboy and carry on as normal until I know a job offer is certain. Then plan to bottle condition a portion the moment I know my future status and keg condition the rest. The cons here is the uncertainty of my timing and potentially having to bottle/keg early. The pros are just being consistent with the style and having a predicable result - unless I don't get to lager as long as I would like (normally I would do 4 weeks for this recipe).

Unusual question, but unusual circumstances and I only have myself to blame for choosing to brew a pilsner. Thanks in advance for any opinions or advice!
 
Don't remember my ages old account so I'm a newbie again. Here's my issue:
Welcome, newbie! 😂

So the issue here is that you're (maybe) not going to be able to finish up fermentation before you need to get out of Dodge? So long as the beer is done then travel shouldn't be too bad, right? Maybe I am missing something but I would say just call an audible on the ferm schedule. You can do something like a modified Narziss. Start ramping the temp now and finish it up. Keg it in prep for the ride and then worry about the lagering in your new digs. You can throw it on ice for the ride but it won't be as critical as if fermentation was still going. Plus, you won't be roadtripping with an accident waiting to happen.

So I guess I'm proposing Option C. Am I helping?!? 🙂 Let me know if I'm missing something but that's ^^^ what I'd do...

Cheers and good luck in the job hunt! :mug:
 
Welcome, newbie! 😂

So the issue here is that you're (maybe) not going to be able to finish up fermentation before you need to get out of Dodge? So long as the beer is done then travel shouldn't be too bad, right? Maybe I am missing something but I would say just call an audible on the ferm schedule. You can do something like a modified Narziss. Start ramping the temp now and finish it up. Keg it in prep for the ride and then worry about the lagering in your new digs. You can throw it on ice for the ride but it won't be as critical as if fermentation was still going. Plus, you won't be roadtripping with an accident waiting to happen.

So I guess I'm proposing Option C. Am I helping?!? 🙂 Let me know if I'm missing something but that's ^^^ what I'd do...

Cheers and good luck in the job hunt! :mug:
You got the gist. Ramping up early I hadn't considered and is exactly why I posed the question - options I wasn't thinking of. That's a solid path. As an option D, I talked to my brewery owner brother and he said to tell employers I can't move until lagering is complete. A bold strategy for the unemployed. But I guess I could be so brave if an offer is on the table. Anyways, I'm going to play with a Narziss-like schedule and see how it works out on paper. I'm not a pilsner purist, but this was somewhat of a special brew I didn't want to deviate too much from the intent. Thanks Elias!

I'll research more, but will an early temp ramp take care of a diacetyl rest?
 
A bold strategy for the unemployed.
Haha! Yeah, probably a little too bold for me. If you go that route I'd definitely leave out the fact that the delay is for lagering a a beer 😅

I'll research more, but will an early temp ramp take care of a diacetyl rest?
Yeah, once you finish the ramp and hold it for a couple days that should be good.

I'm on mobile right now so can't help too much with the research. I know Drew Beechum did a decent piece in CBB a couple years ago that gives an overview. Here's the link.

https://beerandbrewing.com/how-to-stop-worrying-and-lager/
I also know Braukaiser has a great page on lager fermentation with different ferm schedules. It's more technical and shows temp and diacetyl over time. That should be more informative. Here's that link.

https://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Fermenting_Lagers
I'm sure you can Google and find much more than this but hopefully it's a decent start. I can also offer my personal experience. I've done the more traditional schedule and also done this modified version with very, very similar result. I can completely understand not testing on a special batch, though. You'll have to be the final judge on that, of course :mug:
 
Yeah, once you finish the ramp and hold it for a couple days that should be good.

know Drew Beechum did a decent piece in CBB a couple years ago that gives an overview. Here's the link.

https://beerandbrewing.com/how-to-stop-worrying-and-lager/
I also know Braukaiser has a great page on lager fermentation with different ferm schedules. It's more technical and shows temp and diacetyl over time. That should be more informative. Here's that link.

https://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Fermenting_Lagers
I'm sure you can Google and find much more than this but hopefully it's a decent start. I can also offer my personal experience. I've done the more traditional schedule and also done this modified version with very, very similar result. I can completely understand not testing on a special batch, though. You'll have to be the final judge on that, of course :mug:
Immeasurably helpful. I don't know what happened to google, but I just get ads anytime I want to seriously investigate anything. Thanks man, I appreciate the help and links!
 
Immeasurably helpful. I don't know what happened to google, but I just get ads anytime I want to seriously investigate anything. Thanks man, I appreciate the help and links!
Happy to help! Maybe some others will come along with an option E that works even better for you.

Yeah...unfortunately, our worlds are all the more susceptible to ads these days. Google just keeps selling more of their front page and it can be extremely frustrating. Maybe give something like duckduckgo.com a shot. No solution is perfect, and they still have ads, but maybe you'll like it more.

Take care!
 
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