Lagering question

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slamback

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I'm currently lagering my 2nd lager, goatchze's Brazos Bock from this site. I fermented it for 16 days at 52 degrees, and it went from OG 1.052 to FG 1.014. I racked it to secondary 4 weeks ago and dialed it down to 33 degrees. I plan to let it go another 4 weeks. I'm worried that I didn't let it ferment out enough before I dropped the temperature. Should I raise the temp again to around 50 degrees to make sure the yeast has finished doing it's thing? Could I do that for a week, then bring it back down to 33 for 3 more weeks? I just don't want it to cause problems when bottling. I can't keg or I wouldn't worry about it. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!
 
I think you will be fine. I don't see anyway that you did the d-rest , that should of been done right before your 4 weeks of 48-72 hours of a temp in the very low 60's. You should be be pulling your larger when you hit 75 to 80 percent of your fg. Then a d-rest , and then larger. Not all the time do you need a d-rest, but if your beer tastes like butterscotch, it's because of the lack of the d-rest most likely.
 
Diacetyl reduction can be accomplished at low temp lagering as well as a so called "diacetyl rest", it just takes longer... that is IF there is even noted diacetyl. In 23 years of brewing both home and commercial, I have never done a "dyacetyl rest". Diacetyl rests are generally only necessary when you are trying to rush a lager, and even then not always. 6 weeks since brewing time you should have seen good diacetyl reduction already, at 10 weeks I can't imagine there being any diacetyl left either way. Taste it to be sure if you are concerned.

As to FG... I'm not familiar with that recipe specifically, but 1.014 sounds like a reasonable FG for a bock. Do you have a specific reason to be you think there might be a problem?
 
I didn't do the diacetyl rest, because I sampled it and it had no hints of butterscotch or anything, and plus I knew I would be lagering it for a long time. I don't have a specific reason to think there is a problem, other than most of my batches have been under 1.014 FG in the past, but like I said this is only my 2nd lager, first with this yeast.
I'm just going to keep it low & slow... Hopefully it will be alright.
 
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