I brewed a kolsch on March 7th (4 weeks ago as of this Saturday) I let it ferment in primary at 64 for 10 days, then let it ramp up to 70 for several days. Then, I racked to secondary and crash cooled to 34 degrees, which is where it has been sitting for the last week and a half to two weeks. The recipe I used called for it to sit in secondary at near freezing temps for a month after two weeks in primary. My question is does it truly need to be in secondary for another two weeks or does it accomplish the same thing if I keg it and force-carb it this weekend, and then let it cold condition in the keg for another two weeks before serving? It seems like that would reduce the chances and rate of oxidation if it is kegged and carbed versus just sitting in a carboy. Thoughts? Thanks!
I just brewed one 10 days ago with the wyeast strain. It's still in primary, at 60 or so. I'll check on it this weekend. When it tastes ready to rack (no diacetyl or green apple), I'll transfer to a keg and cold crash. I'll hook up the gas line for this, but I'll just set it to serving pressure and give it the usual 2-3 weeks to get there. It might be best to hook up with less than serving pressure to account for increased dissolution of co2 at cold temps
I think the fundamental question is: is it OK to lager with the beer being carbonated? I put my ‘thinking cap’ on and I can think of no reason why it wouldn’t be OK to lager carbonated beer. @DVoors, go right ahead and force-carb your beer and cold condition for another 2 weeks. For a future batch you could force-carb once primary fermentation is complete and cold condition for your chosen timeframe (i.e., 4 weeks), Either way (force-carbed or not) you are lagering. Cheers!
Most German-brewed Koelsch are partially carbonated before being transferred to secondary since they are fermented under pressure in primary to retain natural CO2. You should be fine carbing now and then lagering. I would let it go for the full 6 weeks before tapping -- that seems to me to be the magic number for 029 really cleaning up and rounding out.
