bottle conditioning a lager

[Evan B]

So I've got this dortmunder about ready to bottle, and I've never bottle conditioned a lager, only kegged. And since kegging isn't an option right now, I need to suck it up. Anyways, it has been lagering for 3wks, and I fined it with gelatin. The samples I've pulled off have been pretty brilliant looking.

Is there any possibility of there being enough yeast left for bottle conditioning after the gelatin? I have some dry lager yeast I can add to prime it, but I want to avoid racking to a bottling bucket if I can to avoid possible contamination and oxidation.

It's just too awesome of a beer to risk fucking up, so any help is greatly appreciated

[brewinhard]

Although there will be people on here who will tell you that there is still enough yeast in suspension I would probably add your rehydrated yeast anyway just to be sure. It would suck if you had to open up each bottle and add some yeast after two weeks only to find your delicious lager flat as balls. You say you don't want to rack to a bottling bucket, but how else do you plan on bottling without a counterpressure filler or beer gun?

[Evan B]

i can start a syphon right out of the carboy. i've done it with a few beers before since i use carbonation tabs instead of regular priming sugar

[brewinhard]

Most books I have read would tell you that up to about 1 month of lagering there should be more than enough yeast to bottle condition with. I still do not risk this myself as I have had beers like this that did not carbonate properly as they should have. If there is yeast on the bottom of the carboy you could probably stir some up into suspension and just bottle with some of that. The yeast would settle out after the bottles carbonated and would still be clear and then you wouldn't have to add more yeast or use your botlling bucket. I personally would still add more yeast and bottle out my bottling bucket just to ensure that my hard earned work making the beer got properly packaged and into my stomach. If you are truly worried about oxidation, just be sure to drink it fairly quickly.

[Evan B]

stirring some yeast up isn't a bad idea. but yeah, i've had some serious oxidation problems with my last few beers, so i'm looking at ways i can cut back on transferring and try to avoid it

[brewinhard]

are these beers that you secondaried in a carboy for a period of time that suffered from oxidation? If so are you filling them all the way to the top or as close to the top as you can? Any headspace will lead to oxidation very quickly. You may want to make a larger batch (say 6 gallons) so you can then be sure to fill a 5 gallon carboy right to the rim if you are aging or lagering them. I used to experience oxidation in my lagers before I realized that the headspace can cause this quite quickly. I now lager or age in corny kegs which can be purged with CO2.

[Evan B]

actually no, i only do secondary on lagers, and this is my first lager in 3yrs. i'm a big believer in the "no secondary" method

[Nyakavt]

I've just finished a series of 4 lagers and can share my experience. All the beers were repitched according to JZ's calculator after rinsing the yeast cake. They each spent 2-3 weeks in primary at 50°, 1 week at an elevated temperature, and 1 week at 37° with gelatin. Every one successfully carbonated within 2 weeks without additional yeast while conditioning at room temperature. I tasted each one after a week and it had carbonation, but you could still taste unfermented priming sugar. All but the last batch were transferred to a secondary before adding gelatin to facilitate harvest of the yeast cake. Hope this helps.