Lager temp schedule

[freisste]

I brew mostly ales. I am doing my second lager now and I have what is probably a stupid and easy question:

Normally for an ale I am careful about temp at pitching and I hold temp well for the first couple days. Usually I have the fermenter in a tub of water to hold the temp down and to hold it steady. After a couple days, I stop bothering to check the temp and let it free rise. This has worked very well for me and I never detect off flavors. My question is: can I treat a lager the same way? Can I let it free rise into the 60's (straight into a diacetyl rest, I suppose) after say 6-7 days, roughly double what I do for ales because I figure fermentation takes longer in lagers?

I know temp is critical in ales the first few days and less important after that. Does the same go for lagers after a few days (again, maybe double the time compared to ales)?

Thanks community! I love you guys.

 

[Yooper]

I'd probably do my best to keep it at 50 degrees or thereabouts until activity greatly slows, and then let it free rise to 60 degrees over a couple of days. For me, with a proper sized yeast pitch, that's usually about day 7 but I've had some take as long as 10 days to get to 75% of the way to FG.

 

[freisste]

Sounds good. I'm holding it right at 48 right now. I'll hold it a few more days to get closer to 7-8 days and check gravity as per my original plan.

Thanks again.