The time is approaching to bottle my first lager beer, and I am a little confused concerning how to calculate the amount of corn sugar necessary to batch prime a lager. The carboy has been sitting in my beer fridge for the past 8 weeks at 33* – is this the temperature I should use when calculating how much sugar to add? FWIW, fermentation was at 52* and I also performed a diacetyl rest at 60*. Also, once bottled, will it affect the beer adversely if the bottles condition at a warmer temperature? Lastly, do I need to add more yeast at bottling?
When I bottle my lagers I let the beer warm to room temp. This is the temp I use for carbonation. Take a temp reading, figure sugar, and add to the bucket. I’ve never added any fresh yeast at bottling and have never had a problem with carbing. My lagers tend to take a little more time to carbonate than my ales, so use some patients. If you are really worried, you could add 4 or 5 grams of fresh dry yeast at bottling.
Agreed. You’ll want the beer warm(ish) for natural carb to form anyway so let it warm up. My guess is that 4-5 ounces of priming sugar to make the solution depending on style. I have also left lagers in the fridge at 35° or so for 6 weeks and had ultra-clear looking beer and still had enough yeast in suspension for natural carb to form. Cheers & happy bottling.
