Lager at 4 wks -- What to do?

[Ruprect]

Hey all!

I'm about 4 weeks into my first brew attempt. Unfortunately I didn't study enough before I purchased the kit and got an Oktoberfest Lager. The more I read about lagers, I wish now that I would have started out with a simpler ale for the first go-round.

However, moving forward, the wort has been in the fermenter about 4 weeks now, I checked the FG and it is about 1.010, so I'm guessing it is past the main fermentation phase.

I'm growing impatient and am ready to get round 2 going. I have an AHS American IPA kit ready to go, but no place to put it.
I believe my options here are:

A) Bottle the lager to free up my fermenter.
B) Buy a secondary fermenter, move the o-fest lager into the secondary to free up the primary.
C) Purchase another primary fermentor, use that one for the new batch.

Or last and, well, probably least:
D) Suck it up and let the lager lager...

What do you think? Any option glaringly better than the others? Is there a better option I haven't listed?

I dont' want to ruin my current batch, but if the general consensus is that it is pretty close, I'd go for that route. Can bottling a week or two early here be substituted for an extra week or two stored in the bottle?

Thanks!


Awesome forum, BTW!!

 

[Yooper]

Welcome!

Is your lager still in the primary, on the yeast cake? If it is, you should get it off of there. You can rack to a carboy, and begin lagering. I usually do my primary for 10-14 days, and then do a diacetyl rest if needed. Then, the beer is racked to a carboy and stored ("lager" means to store) at 34 degrees for 6-10 weeks depending on the recipe. For an Oktoberfest, probably 7 weeks lagering is about right.

Have you tasted it? Any slickness or buttery notes?

 

[PT Ray]

What yeast did you use?

 

[osagedr]

Hopefully you have at least one carboy (aka "secondary fermenter"). If not you may as well get one because you'll need one at some point anyway. Rack your lager to the secondary, leaving the trub (yeast cake) behind, and then cold condition your lager if you can.

If you just fermented your lager at ale temperatures then I guess you could probably get away with just bottling it.

 

[Ruprect]

I used a dry yeast, Saflager-23.

It is still sitting in the primary right now, I haven't done anything to it since I put the yeast in, except to check the SG.

It has been sitting in the primary out in my garage at about 55-60 degrees. I don't necessarily have the means to keep it at a lower temperature, I do have a mini-fridge that I could set it in if a 5 gal carboy will fit. I will check the measurements...

I did do a quick taste, there was a hint of buttery-ness... I noticed the smell more.

 

[Yooper]

I used a dry yeast, Saflager-23.

It is still sitting in the primary right now, I haven't done anything to it since I put the yeast in, except to check the SG.

It has been sitting in the primary out in my garage at about 55-60 degrees. I don't necessarily have the means to keep it at a lower temperature, I do have a mini-fridge that I could set it in if a 5 gal carboy will fit. I will check the measurements...

I did do a quick taste, there was a hint of buttery-ness... I noticed the smell more.

If you've got a hint of butter, bring it inside for 48 hours to see if the yeast are still vigorous enough to clean up the diacetyl. Since you're not able to lager it, you might as well bottle it after the diacetyl rest.
Check it after 48 hours at room temperature and see if there is any butter flavor or slickness or oiliness left. If there is, leave it until it's gone.

 

[PT Ray]

I'd go with option A, bottle it.

If your not prepared or ready to start lagering, put it in bottles and move on to batch 2. To be 4 weeks into your first brew and not have it in bottles I feel for you. I sure would have bottled it and worried about lagering some other time.

 

[Ruprect]

Thanks for the help! It's up to room temp for diacetyl rest. I'll bottle tonight or tomorrow!