Which Comes First?

[KellerBrauer]

Greetings all - I bottle condition my beer.  Lately I have been doing a lot of lagers.  After fermentation is complete, I prime and bottle the beer and allow to condition for a few weeks.

My question is: is it better to crash before lagering, or visa versa?  Does it really matter which is first?

[Bob357]

Lagering implies that you’re storing/aging at a low temperature, so lowering to lagering temperature would be first. Whether you choose to distinguish between crashing and dropping the temperature is up to you, as is the temperature you choose for lagering. The norm would be anywhere between ~32- and 40-degrees F.

[KellerBrauer]

That is a very logical conclusion.  However, I was under the impression that lager temperature was around 10° degrees below fermentation temperature range of the yeast and crashing is just above freezing (33° - 34°).  So if I understand your response, you’re saying lager and crashing are the same?  If that’s the case, that’s easy!

[majorvices]

I bottle condition lagers and my method is to lager for a week or two first drop out most detritus, then bottle condition, and then lager the beer in the bottles after carbbing if necessary (in case the beer isn’t clear). A lot of homebrewers extend lagering time unnecessarily …for pale beers a week or two of lagering is plenty, unless the beer is higher gravity and then a few weeks maybe in order. But the idea is to get the beer crystal clear, so that just takes as long as it takes. But the big bonus of bottle conditioning is that the beer haze/yeast/etc has a much shorter distance to fall as opposed to a 5 gallon fermenter so you can get it to drop bright rather quickly.

[KellerBrauer]

@majorvices

I bottle condition lagers and my method is to lager for a week or two first drop out most detritus, then bottle condition, and then lager the beer in the bottles after carbbing if necessary (in case the beer isn’t clear). A lot of homebrewers extend lagering time unnecessarily …for pale beers a week or two of lagering is plenty, unless the beer is higher gravity and then a few weeks maybe in order. But the idea is to get the beer crystal clear, so that just takes as long as it takes. But the big bonus of bottle conditioning is that the beer haze/yeast/etc has a much shorter distance to fall as opposed to a 5 gallon fermenter so you can get it to drop bright rather quickly.

Okay. Good information.  Thank you.  So, I have bottled my Czech Lager and it’s conditioning now in its second week at about 60°.  After another week or so I will assume carbonation is complete, I should drop the temperature to 50° for a couple weeks to lager, then drop the temp to 35° for a few days???  Am I understanding that right?

[denny]

@KellerBrauer

@majorvices

I bottle condition lagers and my method is to lager for a week or two first drop out most detritus, then bottle condition, and then lager the beer in the bottles after carbbing if necessary (in case the beer isn’t clear). A lot of homebrewers extend lagering time unnecessarily …for pale beers a week or two of lagering is plenty, unless the beer is higher gravity and then a few weeks maybe in order. But the idea is to get the beer crystal clear, so that just takes as long as it takes. But the big bonus of bottle conditioning is that the beer haze/yeast/etc has a much shorter distance to fall as opposed to a 5 gallon fermenter so you can get it to drop bright rather quickly.

Okay. Good information.  Thank you.  So, I have bottled my Czech Lager and it’s conditioning now in its second week at about 60°.  After another week or so I will assume carbonation is complete, I should drop the temperature to 50° for a couple weeks to lager, then drop the temp to 35° for a few days???  Am I understanding that right?

I’d try a bottle first to be sure it’s carbed. And I don’t see the point is going to 50 before 35.  I’d just go straight to 35.

[majorvices]

+1

[KellerBrauer]

Perfect! Easy answer!

Thanks for your help!