So last Friday I got a chest freezer from a friend and decided to try out my first lager the very next day. So I got all pitched on Saturday (18g Safale-S23, OG 1050) , set the temp to 50 and the fermentation started in less than 24 hrs. Things are looking good so far. My dilemma is this, however... Right now I can still see clear airlock activity as well as a thin layer of krausen, so the fermentation is still going. The trouble is - I will be out of town starting next Wednesday morning and will be out for 2 weeks. Do you guys think it might finish fermenting by Tuesday night - that will be overall 10 days since pitching. If it does then there's no dilemma - I'll just rack it into secondary and start lagering it. But what if it doesn't ? I know that the whole "get the beer off of the yeast cake" has been more or less discredited for ales and I usually leave mine from 2-4 weeks (unless dryhopping and transferring to secondary for that). But for lagers this could be a problem right ? If I were just to leave it in the primary by the time I get back it will be more than 4 weeks since it was pitched. Or should I transfer it on Tuesday regardless and then switch temp to lagering temp on Wednesday morning just before I leave (I figure by the 10th day it should be awfully close to finishing a 1050 lager, no ? )
What are your personal experiences with lagers of this gravity in terms of leaving them in primary too long , or racking them in less than 2 weeks ?
And please, no flaming...
I know very darn well that I should have planned this after I get back but couldn't resist watching that freezer sit around and do nothing - just had to do it and see how well it goes and worry about other issues later.
Lager dilemma
In fact, you could start ramping the temp down at that point if you wanted to.
Linear Mode
.gif-1367621329.gif)
