Lager storage / carbonation

[Stoutman]

Hi Everyone,

I've been out of the homebrew circle for a little while, and I would like to attempt a lager brew (all grain) for the first time. So I've got some questions, I'll put them numbered for ease of answering;

1) I'd like to carbonate my lager without priming, ie. using a piece of equipment to do it for me? Is there anything out there that can do it before decanting into bottles?

2) I'm thinking of making some fruit lagers which might contain fermentable sugars after primary is over (ie. fruit or juice added after primary). Obviously I dont want the yeast waking up and turning my nice shiny bottles into cherry hand-grenades. What can I do to kill the yeast (preferably without adding anything)? How do industrial breweries do it - are there some filters or pasteurisation techniques I can do?

3) How long will my lager need to sit in the bottles for before consumption, and thereafter how long will it last when stored at, say, room temperature?

On my first, probably humerously messy AG brewday, I'll be sure to post a write-up with pictures of the carnage

Dave

[adm]

One thing you can do is to condition the lager in a cornelius keg. This uses CO2 to carbonate, so you can just gas it up and then leave it to sit in the fridge(or a cold garage/shed during the winter) to lager in bulk. This could take anything from one to three months depending on the fridge temp.

Then when you want to bottle, you can transfer the carbonated, bright beer from the keg to the bottles.

You could also add any fruit to the lager in a secondary, or in the keg (although I'd probably put it in the secondary myself).

[Stoutman]

Thanks for the reply, adm. If I was to add fruit to the secondary, then wouldn't the yeast eat up all the fermentable sugars, thus taking away the sweet taste, or are there some sugars that can't be fermented?

Dave

[adm]

There should be sugars that the yeast won't ferment - it's actually quite fussy. Some sugars it likes, other sugars it will just leave alone!