boo boo said:
Much below 50f and your lager will take a looooong time to ferment out. Like was said, have patience and don't take the beer off the primary yeast until fermentation is finished.
Like boo boo said I would leave it be. I have done this 3 times and bottled after the ferment was up. Carbed at ale temps. Then refridgerated for 6-8 weeks. It worked out well. Very crisp & clean. Its like a cool steam beer.
You can check out John Palmers website on how to brew lagers. It should answer all your questions
http://www.howtobrew.com
Go to: Brewing your first extract, What's different for lagers... Chapter 10
Without checking, I think he says that you can move it over the 2nd shortly after vigorous activity. Then chill it to lager temps 6-8 weeks maybe longer. After that, you do the diacetyl rest. Which is basically a few days at warmer temps to complete the ferment. It requires alot of patience to me during the 6-8 weeks of waiting.
I checked, he said leave until its done bubbling.... rack the 2ndary and chill. Lagering time depend on how cold you go. I've seen several recipes do it like I stated above.
About autolysis... He says it can occurr but I think it takes a lot longer than most people think. He's had the wort sitting on yeast for several months on the primary w/o issue. I think the worry about autolysis is more likely paranoia on most peoples parts. I really wonder how many people have had the problem? I wonder if this usually happens to newbies, thinking it was autolysis when it was really poor sanitation.
Last week I was at my LHBS and a guy there said you don't have to sanitize new fermentors!!! Said he heard this on a podcast. LOL. Might of been confused with food grade bucket fermentors. You can pre-treat non-food grade with baking soda and water. Neutralizes the plastic and make it suitable for use. As long as it wasn't used for pickles!!! I remember somebody here in HBT who did this who made a pickle beer!!!
I really like the bottle lagering method for my first lagers. Its like making an ale but you use lager yeast and ferment 47-65'F. I used Superior Dry Lager Yeast. If you try it I don't think you'll be disappointed. I like this because it didn't tie up my fermentor for a long time. My way is 3 weeks tops. I'm trying to stockpile lagers before it gets warm.
Good Luck!!