I've got an "altoberfest" brewing now with K-97 (German Ale yeast often used for Kolsch/Alt, similar to 1007). It's been in primary for 12 days between 60-65 F, fermentation now appears complete. The plan is to stick in the fridge tomorrow and let it lager at ~40 F for three weeks while I'm away for the holidays, then bottle.
The question is, should I rack it to a secondary fermenter before I do so? I'm generally of the opinion that racking to secondary just wastes time while increasing oxidation/infection risk, so I usually skip it when I brew ales. But I've heard people say that lagers improve their flavor by taking them off the yeast cake. Is this also true of beers brewed with hybrid yeast like K-97? Does the fact that total lagering time will be less than a month make a difference?
I know "cold crash in the keg" is the easiest solution to this class of problem, but I don't have a keg. Maybe someday...
The question is, should I rack it to a secondary fermenter before I do so? I'm generally of the opinion that racking to secondary just wastes time while increasing oxidation/infection risk, so I usually skip it when I brew ales. But I've heard people say that lagers improve their flavor by taking them off the yeast cake. Is this also true of beers brewed with hybrid yeast like K-97? Does the fact that total lagering time will be less than a month make a difference?
I know "cold crash in the keg" is the easiest solution to this class of problem, but I don't have a keg. Maybe someday...
