BeerBorg

Yeah, Phil, it just makes sense. The yeast is going to go to sleep if it's that far below 50 degrees F. I like the idea of a cold crash, but I'm going to keep it in the low-mid 50s for the first two weeks after bottling.

For my last lager, I left mine out at room temp (70) degrees for three weeks after bottling. Then they all went into the fridge at 35 degrees and they stayed there until I drank them. Will they carb up correctly if you bottle and leave at 50 degrees for two weeks before the cold lagering??

Absolutely got to find some carb time in there...

I just re-read the thread and the responses I gave vs your questions Dave and I guess I thought some carb time was assumed since neither you nor I mentioned it! LOL!

But yes, for others that might read this a year from now, there needs to be a couple weeks carb time at fermentation or room temp prior to lagering...

Will the carb at lagering temps? Maybe, but it could take months... If it's too cold, they might not carb at all...

I checked the gravity last night, and I'm about 0.004 away from FG. I turned the temperature down to 52 again, and I'm going to rack to a secondary some time today. By next weekend, I'm assuming I'll be at FG, and I can cold crash for a bit, then bottle. Right now, it's a little cloudy (no big deal), and the color is a very pretty gold. I like the malt/hops balance as it is, so I'm not going to dry hop, or if I do, just for 24 hours prior to cold crash, and maybe only 1/4 - 1/2 ounce of hops. But that hardly seems worth it, or enough to really make much difference, so probably not.

I'm pleased with this, so far.

Sounds like it's going great for you Dave. Glad to hear it. Mine was a little cloudy like yours too, you'll be surprised how much it clears up that last week or so back down at your fermentation temps.

When I racked to the secondary this morning, I was careful to keep the auto-siphon well above all the gunk at the bottom. Fortunately, my initial volume was about six gallons, and I racked about 5.5 to the secondary, so a lot of the solid material was left behind. Now it's just going to be trub from the secondary, which isn't going to be much, and that will help the clarity, too. Then with a cold crash and extended lagering....

I took another reading tonight. Projected FG is 1.014, and I'm at around 1.017 or so. It's been a little less than three weeks since I brewed this, so another week isn't going to hurt anything. I figure I'll leave it where it is (right around 52 degrees) until next Friday and check it again, anticipating bottling it on Sunday.

The really gratifying thing is how clear this is already. I won't even bother cold crashing.

Good to hear Dave. Yup...it is amazing how clear it gets after the D-rest isn't it? I was planning on cold crashing too, but after I took a gravity ready the other day and saw how clear it was, I too have decided against it. I'll leave it at 50 until this weekend and bottle it up.