First Brew, What Now!?

[mrp]

I put my first brew on 2 days ago. I used the following ingredients which was partly from a first brewers' kit.


Cascade Golden Harvest Lager
Brew Blend No. 15 - Brew Booster
50g Cascade hop pellets - Boiled for 10mins in 2L of water (only water added to brew)
Saflager S-23 yeast

Has been fermenting at 12c for the last few days and looks like it is going ok... But what next? How long should I let it ferment for? Just wait until OG is constant for a couple of days? Should I increase the ferment temperature (using a controller)? I have heard of people cold chilling before bottling should I do that?

 

[Northside Novice]

hi mate looks like a nice brew for your first :super:
leave it for min. of a week to 10 days then check sg readings are the same over 24 hours befor bottling is the basic method and it works . i would leave it for 2 weeks then chill it down to 2-5 c for a week then bottle, then condition for min. of 2 weeks. many would do different as there is a lot of diff methods with brewing lager so probly worth while reading a book on the subject or search on here using the search feature at the top left

 

[Dribs]

I'd let the S-23 do its thing for 3 weeks in the fermenter. Even once final gravity is reached, an extra 5 or so days helps "clear it up" I'm told.
Some people would suggest bringing the temp to 16 degrees for 2 days after 2 weeks for the diacetyl rest, a process I've yet to be bothered doing.

 

[Pennywise]

I put my first brew on 2 days ago. I used the following ingredients which was partly from a first brewers' kit.


Cascade Golden Harvest Lager
Brew Blend No. 15 - Brew Booster
50g Cascade hop pellets - Boiled for 10mins in 2L of water (only water added to brew)
Saflager S-23 yeast

Has been fermenting at 12c for the last few days and looks like it is going ok... But what next? How long should I let it ferment for? Just wait until OG is constant for a couple of days? Should I increase the ferment temperature (using a controller)? I have heard of people cold chilling before bottling should I do that?

I don't have a hell of a lot of experience with Lager brewing, but from the little I have I'd suggest letting it ferment as is untill you hit 2/3rds of the way through ferment, then raise the temp to 18 for a week to help clean up any diacetyl, of which you will likely have a bit of if you only pitched one pack of yeast. Then I'd cold condition it for a few weeks at as close to 0c as you can, which will also give you a cleaner beer, and the added bonus of having less sediment making it into the bottles.