Questions about BB Oktoberfest kit as lager

First post here and I have a couple questions for anyone willing to help a newb. This is my first brew on my own so i've been learning as I go here. The kit says you can brew it as an ale but I am a purest and opted to go for a true lager. Being that I live in SD, the garage is right around 52-54 so i've been lucky.

I just moved from primary into secondary (to start lagering) with my brewer's best Oktoberfest kit and my SG (1.015) at transfer was right in the range of the predicted FG (1.013-1.016). OG was 1.050.

The question I have is if I will be ok being that I didn't check the SG for several days in a row and just went by proximity to the estimated FG. I was still having airlock activity during the d-rest so that is why I am concerned. I really don't want exploding bottles.

Thanks for anyone's help/advice.

The reason you have airlock activity during the D-rest is because you are heating up your beer, which causes some of the dissolved CO2 to be released from solution. Now, it is certainly true that you could have had, or did have, active fermentation as well, but the higher temp is definitely going to cause bubbles in the airlock.

I wouldn't be too worried about exploding bottles, personally, especially if the 1.015 is what you got after an extended d-rest.

So you moved from primary into a secondary? Lagering takes times so I don't think you will have any issues with bottle bombs as long as you wait the appropriate amount of time before you bottle. Active yeast during secondary happens either because you transferred too early, or you roused the yeast a little causing them to become somewhat active again. Bringing up the temp can do this as well. Just as long as you don't bottle in serving bottles during this activity you should be fine. Now that it is in secondary give it plenty of time.

Awesome. The warming causing the CO2 to be released definitely makes sense. I plan to have it lager for atleast 3 weeks, prime and bottle after.

The other question I had was about priming and bottling. Is there anything more you need to do with a lager besides add the priming sugar and bottle? Will there still be enough yeast in suspension to carbonate after being chilled in the secondary for several weeks? Any tips for best results?

kaylakebrewer said:

Awesome. The warming causing the CO2 to be released definitely makes sense. I plan to have it lager for atleast 3 weeks, prime and bottle after.

The other question I had was about priming and bottling. Is there anything more you need to do with a lager besides add the priming sugar and bottle? Will there still be enough yeast in suspension to carbonate after being chilled in the secondary for several weeks? Any tips for best results?

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So I did 2 weeks at ale temp and then dropped down to lagering temps for a month. The I bottled but after a week it wasn't carbonated like my other beers. Usually it is really carbonated but not this one. Any ideas?

I recently did an altbier which I lagered for a month, and it also seemed to take longer to carb, FWIW. But I don't know if that's how it's supposed to be.