Bottling temp for my first lager

[joejoe]

I have a Pilsner Urquell clone in secondary since 10/20/03 in my garage at 50 degrees. The OG was 1.042 and the gravity has been 1.008 for a long time now. What temp should I bottle it at? Should I raise the beer to room temp and then bottle and store at 68 for a couple of weeks or should I bottle cold and store cold? Is there even enough yeast left in suspension to carbonate with sugar? I do not have a kegging system and must rely on sugar.

I have tasted the beer from the carboy and it is very good. Much cleaner and crisper than any of the ales I have ever done. I want to carbonate it correctly.

Thanks.

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by joejoe
I have a Pilsner Urquell clone in secondary since 10/20/03 in my garage at 50 degrees. The OG was 1.042 and the gravity has been 1.008 for a long time now. What temp should I bottle it at? Should I raise the beer to room temp and then bottle and store at 68 for a couple of weeks or should I bottle cold and store cold? Is there even enough yeast left in suspension to carbonate with sugar? I do not have a kegging system and must rely on sugar.

I have tasted the beer from the carboy and it is very good. Much cleaner and crisper than any of the ales I have ever done. I want to carbonate it correctly.

Thanks.

John Palmer's take on lager bottling...

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter11-7.html

[rossmarp]

John Palmer also seems to stress the importance of a yeast starter, especially for lagers. I'm planning to do my first lager this weekend and have done about 6 ales or so.

I have never had a problem with yeast activity and fermentation for my ales when I simply pitched a smack pack's worth of yeast into the fermenter.

From Palmer's "How to Brew," Chapter 10.4:

Because of the cooler temperatures, the yeast is less active at first. The best way to ensure a strong, healthy lager fermentation is to pitch a much larger yeast starter than you would for an ale. Where you would pitch a one quart starter solution of liquid yeast for an ale, you would use a 2 or 3 quart starter for a lager.

Should I be concerned with the lager yeast? Or is Mr. Palmer simply being very conservative? What is typical?

Any help is appreciated.

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by rossmarp
John Palmer also seems to stress the importance of a yeast starter, especially for lagers. I'm planning to do my first lager this weekend and have done about 6 ales or so.

I have never had a problem with yeast activity and fermentation for my ales when I simply pitched a smack pack's worth of yeast into the fermenter.

From Palmer's "How to Brew," Chapter 10.4:

Because of the cooler temperatures, the yeast is less active at first. The best way to ensure a strong, healthy lager fermentation is to pitch a much larger yeast starter than you would for an ale. Where you would pitch a one quart starter solution of liquid yeast for an ale, you would use a 2 or 3 quart starter for a lager.



Should I be concerned with the lager yeast? Or is Mr. Palmer simply being very conservative? What is typical?

Any help is appreciated.

I'll start by saying - I always make starters. IMO, you get a better, faster ferment that leads to cleaner tasting beer.

Pretty much everything you read will suggest making a starter for a lager. A good size starter will help reduce some of the residual by-products that will clutter up the taste of a lager and decrease lag time. I'd say give the starter a try.