[AnimALE]

Im pretty new to lagers and my question is what gravity should you start the D rest..For example say you brewed a 1.050 beer and your target FG is 1.010 start the D rest at 1.020? Or at the very end of primary? I hear alot of different opinions on the subject

[klickitat jim]

Generally speaking, before it's complete so the yeast are not going dormant yet, but after the warmer temp won't negatively effect flavor. I think your 1.020 idea would be fine. That's about 75% done.

[AnimALE]

Cool so the 75% finished ramp the temp to 60's for a few days then proceed to lagering..thank you

[morticaixavier]

Cool so the 75% finished ramp the temp to 60's for a few days then proceed to lagering..thank you

ramp up the temp until it's done whether that is a few days or a couple weeks. let the beer guide you. When the gravity is stable and the beer tastes good then lager

[AnimALE]

Cool so the 75% finished ramp the temp to 60's for a few days then proceed to lagering..thank you

ramp up the temp until it's done whether that is a few days or a couple weeks. let the beer guide you. When the gravity is stable and the beer tastes good then lager

Gotcha.. right on thanks

[hopfenundmalz]

75% is a good rule of thumb, sometimes I make sure I have at least 2 degrees Plato to go when I ramp up. Taste the beer to decide if you need more time at the elevated temperature.

[brewinhard]

I play it by ear with my lagers.  I typically will start to bump up the temps a couple degrees F at a time when I first notice the krausen dropping back into the beer.  That tells me the yeast have past their peak work time and need a bit more warmth to finish properly and clean up after themselves. 

[morticaixavier]

I'll kick with what I have been doing with lagers:

pitch at 45-50f and hold there until day 5ish. bump 5 degrees every 12 hours (or so) until I get to 65. hold there until done and then back off 5 degrees every 12 hours (or so) until I'm at or around 32 and hold till there is space in a keg.

[davidgzach]

I would err on the side of being late than early though.  If you pitched properly then you should typically not even need a D-rest.  I bring my lagers up to 65 for 2-3 days then crash to 32 anyway.  I played with stepping it up and down but came to find it made no difference that I could tell and took too much attention.  YMMV.

Dave

[reverseapachemaster]

Ramping up at 1020 would be the right course of action if you know that beer is going to reach FG at 1010 or less. If that beer stops on you in the teens then you may not have enough fermentation to rid yourself of diacetyl (or its precursors).

[Wort-H.O.G.]

FWIW, just ran my helles lager though the process. pitched at 47F and held fermentation at 49-50F for almost 6 days, took a sample and had gone from 1.055 to 1.018, and i warmed part of sample, left part unwarmed, covered both and then when warm sample was back to room temp, uncovered and tasted.There was a very slight hint of diacetyl in the warmed sample. let it rise to 65F where i held for 2 days for d-rest. took reading just now, at 1.014 (likely done) and sample (warmed and compared to unwarmed) is 100% diacetyl free (at least to my ultra sensitive taste).

[brewinhard]

I'll kick with what I have been doing with lagers:

pitch at 45-50f and hold there until day 5ish. bump 5 degrees every 12 hours (or so) until I get to 65. hold there until done and then back off 5 degrees every 12 hours (or so) until I'm at or around 32 and hold till there is space in a keg.

Have you noticed any O2/airlock liquid suckback when you are dropping the temps in this fashion or even when you are holding it at 32 until there is an available keg? 

[Wort-H.O.G.]

I'll kick with what I have been doing with lagers:

pitch at 45-50f and hold there until day 5ish. bump 5 degrees every 12 hours (or so) until I get to 65. hold there until done and then back off 5 degrees every 12 hours (or so) until I'm at or around 32 and hold till there is space in a keg.

Have you noticed any O2/airlock liquid suckback when you are dropping the temps in this fashion or even when you are holding it at 32 until there is an available keg?

i have not noticed it. i generally use a little vodka in a freshly sanitized airlock when dropping down around freezing, because water freezes and 80 proof doesn't so much.

[klickitat jim]

I'll kick with what I have been doing with lagers:

pitch at 45-50f and hold there until day 5ish. bump 5 degrees every 12 hours (or so) until I get to 65. hold there until done and then back off 5 degrees every 12 hours (or so) until I'm at or around 32 and hold till there is space in a keg.

Have you noticed any O2/airlock liquid suckback when you are dropping the temps in this fashion or even when you are holding it at 32 until there is an available keg?

Pull the cap and bubbler out and cover it with foil to avoid suck back.

[wingnut]

in my experience, a D-rest of 3 to 5 degrees with about 25% to go is my goal.   However, I have had many instances where I had to choose to bump up the temp early, or not at all due to having to travel out of town.   I have found that anywhere after 50% done seems to give the same results.   

The only other bit of advice I would give is even when you have a steady final gravity, you may need to leave the beer alone for another week or two.  Taste the beer when you think it is done, and look at it too.  I find that at 8 to 11 days, the beer is at a steady gravity, but still cloudy and depending on the yeast, I still detect diacetyl.  The cloudy is yeast still in suspension doing what they need to do for the lager.... dont cold crash yet if the yeast is still clouding the beer... let them do their work.  Let the beer stay at the d-rest temp for up to another two to three weeks.  (I have not had good results with the cool one or two degrees a day many people do).   

I find that the yeast will settle out just fine given time, and time is what the yeast need to clean ther beer up.