Pilsner Fermentation

[Professor_Dill]

I am in the middle of my second batch (both have been Festa Brew Kits to get used to everything), a Festa Brew Continental Pilsner kit (http://noblegrape.ca/beer/festa-brew-continental-pilsner/) which I started 2.5 weeks ago and this is my situation/set-up:

• I decided not to rack to a secondary because it was easier/pros vs cons from what I've read/my secondary was not clean. It's been in my primary bucket with an air lock the whole time.
  
• I don't have a place where I can bring the temperature down as low as I would like. Its in a back room in my house and the temperature started around 20C (68F) for the first 5 days and then went down, and hovered around, 15-17C (59-62F) for over a week because it was cold outside and I didn't have the heat on in that room. The temperature outside has picked up and now it's back up to 19C (66F) for the last 2 days.
  
• Up until about the 2 week mark there was fairly constant activity in the air lock, but for the last 5 days there has been nothing.
  
• I will be racking to another bucket before I bottle the beer.

I'm wondering how well this is going to turn out considering the temperatures/primary bucket only. It will be getting colder outside (and thus the temperature in my back room will be dropping) within the next couple of days. I was thinking of sticking the bucket outside to cold crash it when the temperature gets lower. Basically, what I'm trying to ask/get at is:

1. Should I cold crash it before I rack it to the other bucket to bottle, or should I rack it then cold crash it then bottle it, or skip the cold crashing all together?
   
2. Should I leave it in the primary longer, or should I bottle it now since there is no activity and then let it sit in the bottle for a while?

Thanks for the help and any suggestions.

 

[daksin]

Your temperature situation isn't ideal. If you have a hydrometer, check the gravity before bottling. If you don't, go order one, but leave the beer at fermentation temperatures for a week after airlock activity stops, then cold crash and bottle.

 

[Queequeg]

Cold crash before transferring to the bottling bucket. You want bottle straight after racking to the bb as any oxygen that gets mixed into the beer will be used up by the yeast when it primes.