How long leaving in F.V.?

[Stephenj]

Evening all

Brewed a sort of a Belgian blonde 12days back using safale S-189 dry lager yeast recommended by LHBS guy. Chugged away in garage nicely for a week at about 12-14degrees, no activity for last week, haven't taken gravity reading yet, but wondered how long in primary at 10ish degrees I should leave it?

Seen some posts on net about raising temp gradually, but also some saying they just bottle it after 2-3 weeks and leave to condition in bottles for a few weeks/months.

First time ever doing anything other than a pale ale so a bit in the dark.

 

[ACBEV]

This is my take on brewing lager... Rule of thumb!

Ferment for 3 weeks...
Bottle condition for 3 weeks...
Lager for 3 weeks or longer...

 

[foxbat]

If I was you I'd jump in at step 2 (the diacetyl rest) of the quick lager method and take it from there. Your main fermentation is done and now every step you're taking is trying to get that clean, crisp flavour that defines a lager.

 

[Stephenj]

This is my take on brewing lager... Rule of thumb!

Ferment for 3 weeks...
Bottle condition for 3 weeks...
Lager for 3 weeks or longer...

What temps for each stage?

 

[Stephenj]

If I was you I'd jump in at step 2 (the diacetyl rest) of the quick lager method and take it from there. Your main fermentation is done and now every step you're taking is trying to get that clean, crisp flavour that defines a lager.

If, due to stupidity on my behalf, I can't control the temp as well as suggested, would moving the FV straight into the utility room work (temp is about 18 degrees in there)?

 

[Honk]

Straight into the utility room at 18 sounds good, I'd leave it there for at least a week then back out in the garage to clear before bottling, use your utility room again to prime then garage for lagering as long as you can resist it.

 

[Stephenj]

Straight into the utility room at 18 sounds good, I'd leave it there for at least a week then back out in the garage to clear before bottling, use your utility room again to prime then garage for lagering as long as you can resist it.

Sounds like it will work. Should I leave another week in cold FV, or move into utility now as it seems to have stopped any activity for the moment?

In terms of bottling, as I'm leaving this for the summer, and don't want to run out of bottles for brews I can still do now and drink before that one could I use 2 litre ginger beer PET bottles to prime and store until the summer? If so, how long would one bottle last at a push after opening? I normally have 3-4 bottles of 330-500mls on a summers afternoon/evening so would probably be OK, but just wondering really. This would also save on space to store them rather than getting a PB at this stage.

 

[foxbat]

Sounds like it will work. Should I leave another week in cold FV, or move into utility now as it seems to have stopped any activity for the moment?

Straight to the utility room now for the diacetyl rest and to finish fermentation. You can actually go straight there as soon as the most active part of fermentation has died down which yours certainly has by the sounds of it.

 

[Stephenj]

Schweet. Better make a space.

 

[Stephenj]

FV been in kitchen for 6 days now at about 18c, gives a little gurgle every now and then which makes the kids laugh. Anyway took a sample tonight for the craic and it's down from 1.062 to 1.015. According the BF software needs to get down to 1.007 for 75% efficiency. First time using lager yeast so should I just leave that that temp or try to raise it a little before cold crashing?

Sample is as clear as a Caribbean sea (should I still cold crash if really clear?) but it has a little river tyne pong when I sniff it. Tastes ok like

 

[Stephenj]

UPDATE and advice please.

day 26 been at 18degrees for 9 days, gurgle every half hour or so. Just took reading as 1.014, so went down just .001 point in 9 days at 18degrees. 6.3% ABV at 76% apparent attenuation.

Should I raise temp (which will be hard given that my boiler packed in this afternoon and we have no heating or hot water) or cold crash and accept that's as good as I will get it?

Cheers