Lagering question

[danculwell]

So my last batch of beer (an ale) was split between my Mr. Beer fermenter and a 5 gal bucket. I controlled the temp of the bucket with the old tub of water and ice bottle method but I couldn't think of a way to do the same with the Mr. Beer so it got no temp control. However it would be really easy to pop that bad boy in my fridge for some pseudo-lagering.

My question is would this really do more good than leaving it at room temperature for the same amount of time? I figured I would have it in there a week or two at the most before I wanted to bottle it. At the three week mark I'll start checking for a steady gravity to make sure it's done before I cool it down.

In case I didn't make any sense up there which would make a cleaner ale in your opinion. Around 3 weeks at room temp and 2 weeks in the fridge or 5 weeks at room temp. This would be followed up by the usual bottle carbing/conditioning time.

Thanks

 

[944play]

A couple weeks of cold conditioning (not lagering without lager yeast) will likely result in clearer beer. It may taste better with less suspended solids. Probably not as good as the beer that was temp-controlled during active fermentation though... just a guess.

 

[BrookdaleBrew]

Would there still be enough yeast in suspension at that point to bottle carb?

 

[danculwell]

Would there still be enough yeast in suspension at that point to bottle carb?

I'm not worried about that because I'll be blending the two back together.