Long diacetyl rest

I am in the process of fermenting my first lager and had a question about using the diacetyl rest as an excuse for finishing the fermentation.

The beer is a doppelbock and had an OG of 1.083. After 3 weeks at 50 degrees the fermentation had really slowed down, krausen dropped, yeast dropped, (gasp, boo hisss) airlock bubbling every 45 seconds and the gravity at 1.030. Was a bit worried the fermentation would stick soon if I didn't up the temp and do a "diacetyl rest". I quote that because I didn't need it, tasted sample and it was good but a tad sweet. So I let the temp creep up to to 64 over 48 hours and the gravity dropped to 1.026. This should be good enough for a normal diacetyl rest but since I am really doing this to get the beer to 1.020 or so, would it be okay to leave it for a few more days here or do I risk off flavors?

So really what I am asking here is, is it okay to drop the last 10 points (1.030 to 1.020 on a 1.083 OG beer) at 64 even if it takes 4 or 5 days? This beer will be lagered for 6-8 weeks afterward but I want to hit my desired target FG or be a point or two away before this.

Thanks for you help lager experts!

 

lagers generally take time to work. i would give it no more than 3 days at 64, then gradually bring the temp back down to 50, no more than 5 degrees per day. then let it go for another week or two. if you get no more drop after that, youre done fermenting. thats a pretty high og to take past where youre at. i hope the yeast you used had a high attenuation percentage. usually lager yeasts are pretty tame. you might be done. i would be willing to bet menschmachine has some input. mensch, where are ya?

 

I definitely should have mentioned that, I used Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager. It has an attenuation of 73-77%. Going middle of the road, I should reach about 1.021 which would be fine with me. I actually figured as soon as I saw 1.022 I would start to cool down to lager temp and like you said 5 degrees a day. Was going to let it hit 35, then rack to secondary, and give it a couple months at 35.

 

Since it's a doppelbock, I wouldn't be worried about it as much. A little "character" won't hurt.