This has me a bit confused, I was actually going to start a new thread, but I believe this is relevant to this discussion.
In the latest BYO article there is a sentence in there that recommends a slow ramp (~5F/day) to lager temps to prevent temperature shock and lipid extraction. This is after fermentation is complete.
Am I missing some context here or is the lipid extraction not something that typically leads to off flavors?
And yes your "experience" comment is spot on in my, well, experience
In the few lagers I've done, once I've ramped up the temperature for the d-rest and I'm sure there is no more attenuation going on, I keg and crash/carb right down to lagering temps and certainly haven't noticed any off-flavors.
The article made me wonder if there is some improvement to be had by a ramp as opposed to a crash...