Pilsner bottle conditioning time. How long?

[Greenhorn]

My first AG lager (or any lager for that matter), a Bohemian pils, has been in secondary for a month now at 2°c. I'm planning on taking some of it to a friend's party at the end of June.

Ideally, I'd like to condition it for as long as possible, so the question is, how long will it need in the bottle to get a good lagery level of carbonation? Will the fact that the yeast has been dormant for so long be an issue? and also the fact that it will have been racked twice. Will there still be enough active yeast about after I've bought it up to 20°c to do the job?

 

[Leon103]

I think a minimum of 6 weeks. Mine have only been 2 weeks. 😩

 

[JapanBrew]

Lagering takes time. Lager yeast are bottom fermenting so the process is slow. Added with the low temp and you get a delayed reaction. It might not be ready in time.

 

[Hoddy]

If you've had it conditioning in the secondary for 4 weeks then you should be a way along.

I assume it fermented for a good 2-3 weeks, plus at least 3 days warm diacetyl rest?

If so I would bottle it now (use coopers carb drops) and let it sit at a warm 16+ oC temp for 2 weeks then crash it back to 2oC for the remaining time until the party. Test a bottle and see what it's like. It most likely won't be at its best but you might just get away with it.


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[Greenhorn]

Was in primary for three weeks and then rested for 4 days.

Thankfully I've realised that being in three 5l water bottles, I can just bottle one of them to give me 10 bottles to take to the party. The rest I can leave a while longer.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[mike-os]

Don't think you will be ready. .. It may be ok but not great, I am currently drinking lager bottled in October last year it was properly cleared and conditioned about a month ago

 

[JapanBrew]

Mike is right. Lagers (unless it's a kind of imitation lager) take time. Lager is the process not the beer type. It is a yeast type, low temp, bottom fermenting yeast. Ale yeast will go dormant at low temps. I lager mine at 4 to 6 degrees in a vegetable walk in refrige.