So I've got it in my head to try a dark lager which would be my first lagered beer, and I am really struggling to make sense of how to think about lagering in the first place. My understanding of lagering is that it was a cold-temp conditioning process after initial fermentation followed by a diacetyl rest that does a lot to affect the flavor profile, tied to bottom fermenting yeast and so on (I'm not super technical on all of it), and which of course results in a clearer beer.
But looking into recipes and trying to make sense of it, a lot of writers seem to treat "lagering" as nothing more than a clarifying step, and I've even seen recipes that just say to cold-crash the secondary for 24 hours after a week, then bottle, 14 days after brewing. That definitely doesn't sound right to me.
Similarly, I've seen lots of references to lagering as part of a bottle conditioning process, while other references claim that lagering has to happen at atmospheric pressure. So, in short, I'm confused and want to know what to do:
Do I ferment at 45-55 F for a week, transfer to a secondary and condition for 4 weeks at near freezing, then bottle with priming sugar and condition for min. 2 weeks at ~65 to carbonate?
Or can I go through primary fermentation, add to a secondary for a week then cold-crash it to clarify, before transferring to bottles with priming sugar and the cold storing the bottles at near freezing for 4-6 weeks, allowing the lagering to happen along with carbonation?
Any feedback would be deeply appreciated.