Lagering Times Question

[lbernard3]

I have a lager in the refrigerator. This beer has been through a lot. We had a temp control thermostat on the fridge, but the fridge is outside in a pool house a my brew partner's house. The temp crashed in December and the fridge dropped really low. We moved it inside to an attic space and kept it around 40F. The temp was going to get up to 60+ in Ohio a few weeks ago, so she moved it back out to the fridge. The the temps crashed to sub-zero.

(My brew buddies "needed" to make a bock-against my better judgement of not having the right equipment-oh well!)

We are now ready to bottle. So my question is: do we need to bring this beer in to let it warm up to room temp for a 3 days before we bottle? How necessary is this?

Any help will be appreciated.

Lou

 

[Beernik]

Ok, a couple things are striking me before I answer the question:

1. It has finished fermenting, yes?
2. Has it been lagered yet?
3. Besides controlling the cold of your fridge, you should also control a heat supply. With a brew belt and a fan I was able to maintain 40F in a detached garage when it was dropping to 0F at night. You could get a small space heater. It might be more efficient.

If you are sure the fermentation is complete, you can bring the beer in, warm it, and bottle it at room temperature. If you haven't lagered yet, you can bottle-lager.

 

[lbernard3]

Thanks Beernik-
To the best of my ability to recreate the calendar, here is what happened:

11/2/2013 brewed
11/2/2013 moved to fridge at 47F
11/12/2013 1.5 weeks later gravity only 30% fermented, raised temp in fridge to 50F
11/13/2013 temp drops below freezing and we unplug thermostat (don't know why)
11/17/2013 temp rising and everything in freezer thaws and fridge rises to 50F
11/19/2013 temp dropping again - worried it might freeze
11/23/2013 Moved to an attic space - 50 F
12/7/2013 brought inside to room temp to take reading and make sure it reached final gravity
12/8/2013 continued to ferment
12/9/2013 blew thru air lock
12/10/2013 settled down-fermentation stopped -
Eventually it was moved back into the fridge at 35F-prob around 12/22 and has been there ever since.

Please don't everyone lecture me on taking good notes, proper equipment, yadda yadda... I know, I know.

So how long to keep at 35F?

Thanks

 

[CadillacAndy]

I think the real question is if it's down to terminal gravity. Did it finish at least close to where you thought it would? If not, I'd be worried with all the temp changes that it didn't finish and may potentially attenuate another point or 3 in the bottles, especially if you add new, fresh yeast to get it to carbonate in the bottles.

 

[Beernik]

I'm not going to lecture about bad notes. I've bend there before.

I agree, pull a sample and take a see if it has finished fermenting. If it has then, you've had four weeks of lagering. If it hasn't, you may need to warm and repitch so it can finish.

 

[lbernard3]

Yes it it final gravity around 12/10. It has been cold since. One of our partners just went to Japan until the end of the month. Is it ok to let it sit in cold storage until then?

 

[Beernik]

Yeah that will be right around 7 weeks. That should be fine.

 

[lbernard3]

Thank you for everything.