German pils

[rossiski]

So my first lager is working away at 50 degrees for the past ten days. I was wondering what my next steps should be. Leave it at 50 for a month and then keg or leave it until almost the end of fermentation (~3weeks), d rest (2 days), then lager for a few weeks? I also pitched my yeast at 50 and have held it that way since. Thoughts?

[dmtaylor]

Taste it. If it tastes like butter, incorporate a diacetyl rest. If it doesn't, keep it at 50 F until gravity remains constant, then skip the D rest, and go ahead and lager or keg or both.

[Ozwald]

It depends

[BDawg]

Taste it. If it tastes like butter, incorporate a diacetyl rest. If it doesn't, keep it at 50 F until gravity remains constant, then skip the D rest, and go ahead and lager or keg or both.

+1

And be generous with your D-rest if you need it. No point in rushing that. The point is to get rid of the diacetyl, not follow some blind 3 day regimen. Warm it all the way up and keep it warm and taste it every day until the butter smell/flavor is gone. THEN proceed to slowly reduce back down to lagering temps and lager it out from there. You'll be glad you did.

[rossiski]

Thanks guys. The follow up question is that I am leaving on a weeks vacation on Saturday. That will be 14 days after pitching. Should I leave the beer at 50 or raise the temp and perform an extended d rest while I am gone? My airlock still have pretty good activity. I am thinking by Friday it will be almost done.

[Afterlab]

Raise it up to room temp and don't worry about. If you pitched enough viable yeast at the start of fermentation you shouldn't have had to worry about esters and off flavors being created during the first few days of primary fermentation. Raising the temp after the first few days of fermentation won't harm anything.

Like the others have said, ignore the "hard and fast" rules of X days for primary, X days for secondary, etc... Each yeast strain is different and works on its own timeframe. Just let it ferment until it's done. Following the often repeated rules of X amount of days for X phase of fermentation is meaningless if it doesn't work with the yeast you're using and the beer you're brewing.

[brewinhard]

I agree with Afterlab. Let it slowly warm up to room temps (68 F) and finish fermenting those last few points while you are on vacation. This will ensure a full attenuation as well as allowing the yeast to clean up any off flavors like diacetyl and acetaldehyde.

[BDawg]

Yes. The ester profile was set in the initial day or so of primary fermentation. Leaving the temp raised now will only help keep the yeast active so they clean up after themselves.

BTW, 2 days is almost never enough time for a diacetyl rest. Take a guess how I know.