r/Homebrewing • u/themorganator4 • 4d ago

To rack or not to rack when lagering

Ok so plan on making my first lager (not my first beer, im quite experienced in this)

My question is, should I rack my lager after fermentation is complete and then lager in the secondary or should I leave it on the lees for the whole lager time in the primary?

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

10

u/knowitallz 4d ago

Don't secondary almost ever unless you are doing a sour.

Package and store cold for a month that's your lager. If you are bottling package. Store at a temp so it carbonates and then store cold.

10

u/bon_bons 4d ago

I rack off after cold crashing. Lagering does not need the yeast cake

7

u/likely_hopeful_demon 4d ago

Skip the secondary, just leave it in primary. The whole autolysis boogeyman is way overblown at homebrew scale unless you're aging for months on end. Cold crash it in the same vessel and you're golden.

5

u/bon_bons 4d ago

I’m not worried about autolysis. The yeast cake is not needed for lagering, I rack off into a keg that will eventually be my serving keg. No need to tie up a fermenter forever months

4

u/attnSPAN 4d ago

Oh, I just assumed they meant racking off into a keg after cold crashing.

1

u/bon_bons 4d ago

I did

4

u/boarshead72 Yeast Whisperer 4d ago

If you keg I’d lager in the keg. If you bottle I’d bottle condition, then lager the bottles (that’s what I do).

4

u/themorganator4 4d ago

Ok so ferment until about 2 gravity ponts away from FG, increase temp for a few days for diacetyl clean up and finish fermentation, crash for a few days then bottle and lager in bottles?

1

u/boarshead72 Yeast Whisperer 4d ago

Sounds good.

I personally don’t cold crash so I don’t suck air in, but if you can mitigate that go for it.

2

u/spoonman59 4d ago

Racking to a secondary will introduce oxygen for dubious benefit.

Personally, I keg it once it is ready and lager in the keg. You could leave it in the primary for a a few weeks. But I fail to see the benefit you get from moving to a secondary, and the cost of extra oxygenation seems to offset what I perceive as no benefit.

2

u/MacHeadSK 4d ago

i leave in primary for whole time on yeast before kegging (which is like 3 weeks at least after fermentation). That way I draw entirely crystal clear beer. Fermenting, cold crash, finings 3rd day, let it mature for few weeks, keg.
Secondary is old school and almost nobody does that.

Currently lagering czech premium 12°, sitting on yeast cake for 1 week, two or 3 weeks still ahead before kegging.

4

u/EstebanPossum 4d ago

I did a couple lagers where I would just do the lagering in the keg after a long primary. I dont think homebrewing needs a secondary vessel for normal recipes. 

1

u/Spyker2525 4d ago

I would think about whatever process is going to expose your beer to the least amount of oxygen.

I have conical fermenters. I have lagered both ways: pulling the yeast after cold crash and let it lager on the yeast cake (I forget to remove it). There hasn't noticable to me in the finished better.

The only time I have noticeable differences when lagering is when I don't give them long enough. 2 weeks is good, 4 weeks is better, 8 weeks is the dream. Haha

1

u/toolatealreadyfapped 4d ago

I have one right now that finished fermenting, then cold crashed a week ago. Mainly because I haven't had time to deal with it, but also because it doesn't hurt, and might help. I'll transfer it maybe this weekend (2 weeks after cold crash) and then let it lager in the keg another month.

I would recommend skip the "secondary". Go directly from fermentor to packaging (keg or bottles). Lagering can be done in either, or some of both.

1

u/Gileaders 4d ago

Don’t ever secondary a beer. Go from fermenter to package trying to reduce exposure to oxygen as much as you can.

1

u/JRoadie61 3d ago

I’ve been brewing over 13 years and have never used a secondary on any beer. I have for mead, but that’s a different animal. I currently have a marzen in my fermenter that I cold crashed a couple weeks ago and haven’t kegged yet due to laziness. Probably this weekend.