Lager vs secondary fermentation

Reading Palmer’s book. Is lagering just secondary fermentation at a lower temperature.? Can I lager in my keg in my keezer and just not turn on the CO2 until lagering is finished?

I think you can even carbonate and lager at the same time.

Just leave it in primary for a good long while - 4 weeks or so and then lager cold however you please.

Lagering in the keg is very common way of doing things for people with keg systems. Its how I do it, and I got the idea from others on this board. And yes you can lager with the gas on, so its also carbonating at the same time. The only drawbacks of lagering in the keg is if you lager at just above freezing, that keeps your serving temp for any other kegs in the same fridge lower than I generally prefer. Also, its hard to avoid the temptation of taking “samples” before the lagering is done. Small prices to pay for the convenience though.

I regularly fall victim to this. Just started with lagers this fall, my first keg never made 2 months of lagering. My 2nd one is fairing better as it just crossed 2 months and is only 50% gone. Kept up brewing them though so I’ve got 4 more kegs behind that should have plenty of lager time. :cheers:

I regularly fall victim to this. Just started with lagers this fall, my first keg never made 2 months of lagering. My 2nd one is fairing better as it just crossed 2 months and is only 50% gone. Kept up brewing them though so I’ve got 4 more kegs behind that should have plenty of lager time. :cheers: [/quote]

+1. I use 13 kegs in rotation for 10 gallon batches, brewed around twice a month on average. I rarely have beer that isn’t ready to be racked into a just finished keg and a standby empty. Plus, I usually have one or two kegs that are long-termers in the cue or on tap (the bigger beers/darker beers are not favorites of my crew, but I like them sometimes, so I brew them in five gallon batches).

So far, freshness has not been a problem.