If I lager in a keg is it better to carbonate before lagering or after? Or during?
You can spund it to carbonate, hey I saw that in person last summer in Germany.
I finish carbonating during lagering. I can’t say I’ve tried it any other way, but I haven’t noticed any issues doing it this way, and you have the bonus of being able to drink from the keg as it’s conditioning.
Good point.
For me, it depends on the inventory level. If the inventory is good, I’ll just let it sit until a few weeks before I think I’ll be ready to drink it and then carb it. If the inventory is low, I’ll go ahead and hook it up at serving pressure so it’s ready in 3 weeks or so.
I carb after. I always assumed the high CO2 would stress the yeast or make them go dormant too early. No science here just an assumption that too much of anything in an environment is a bad thing.
This ^^^^^^. Sometimes I let them lager for a few weeks prior to carbing, other times I put them on gas and have them lager while they are carbing.
I have always just hooked up the gas and let them carb as they lager. I haven’t noticed any problems with doing it this way.
Same here.
I usually let them sit a couple of weeks uncarbed, then will start hitting them with 25 psi or greater for a couple of seconds every other day or so, until they get to around 11 psi or so.
I’ve tried a bunch of ways, but set it and forget it works best for me. Lager and carbonate at the same time.
+1 for set it and forget it. quick and easy. Although I do lager around freezing temp for two weeks before putting it in the Keg fridge.