Don't Secondary

I'm not sure if you mean to imply that yeast that have fallen out of suspension don't die, but they do. Not as quickly at cold temps as at higher temps, but they still do.

 

We all die eventually. But yeast will remain viable a long time, certainly longer than any rational person would be lagering in a fermenter.
If your beer is fermenting in a glass carboy or steel keg when we as a species finally kill ourselves off, eventually the vessel will burst, the yeast will be set free and some of them will go forth into the wild and propagate. They are a sacred species on this Earth of ours.

 

I'm not worried about being true to style as entering beers in competitions doesn't appeal to me. I have made many lagers, but always assumed they had to be fermented at low temperatures. I should try one at a higher temperature just to see what they taste like.

 

They taste far more "lager" because the yeast don't know to produce the flavors inherent in ale yeasts. They stick with what they know, unless they get too warm in which case they get a little goofy. But if your room temps are low 60s or you drape a T-shirt around the carboy and let it wick up moisture to evaporate-cool a few degrees cooler than room temp it'll be fine.
Relax, don't worry...

 

What's a rational amount of time? White Labs' data says that a fresh vial of yeast will lose 15%-25% viability in a month. Do you think the yeast in a fermenter that has just finished fermenting a beer is more robust?

 

That might come in handy when I'm already using the keezer to lager another lager. It gets a little difficult juggling one keezer for several beers that need to ferment or lager at different temperatures.

 

The yeast in vials has relatively little wort to work with. Yeast with (for instance) five gallons of wort will still have plenty of sugars during lagering.

 

Do you start lagering before attenuation is finished?

 

Thanks homie! Nice seeing you on the homebrew regularly these days.

 

I don't ever use secondary fermenters for standard beers, BUT, I must say that the next time I brew a barleywine, weizenbock, or RIS I just might. The last beer that I kegged was a bigger one (around 9%), and I kegged/carbed it after a 3-week primary. I feel like it could have used a bit more time to condition before putting it on the gas.

So, if letting a beer condition in the keg for a month or so before putting on the gas counts as a secondary, then that's pretty much the only time I'll do it (for standard, high-gravity beers)