I am thinking this has probably already been addressed at some point, but I will re-ignite the conversation. I am making my first lager soon and I began to wonder. If I go through the whole process of lagering to clear the beer, if I bottle it and add sugar and wake the yeast and start them working again, don’t I lose the benefit of lagering?
You have to think that many years ago that is the only way it was done. Even in the … barrel. You’ll have to do it and maybe not prime a few bottles for comparison. The un-primed bottles will need more time. Sneezles61
Bottling beer is a relatively new process. When breweries started bottling they already new how to filter. The point of lagering was to get the yeast to drop to the bottom of the barrel. The best and clearest would come from the top of the barrel . The free pours would come from " the bottom of the barrel". Personally I wouldn’t bottle condition a lager
Nope. You already have gained the benefits. You won’t lose them by bottle conditioning.
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I bottle condition…and then lager…so its carbed pre-lagering.
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Sure you can bottle condition but you will have bottle sediment. You will have to give the pour carefully lecture.
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Ur bottle sediment.
That’s what I’d do.
Adding priming sugar in itself isn’t going to degrade the effect of lagering, but I have to believe that stirring and re-suspending yeast that’s fallen out of suspension would, at least in the short term.
I’d think you’d want to condition a long while after bottling and also be really careful when pouring.
I boiled water and put one bottle at a time in water. I did a pre prohibition lager this year and bottled. Put prime sugar in all. Left in a 33-34 refrid for 1 month and had a great beer. Longer the better in a cold refrid before enjoyment.
Lagering isn’t just to clear the beer. The idea is phenols and tannins settle out creating a smoother brew. The clarity is just an extra.
I thought they went hand in hand
This is what I always do with my lagers. It works fine.
