German alt beer question

[headcheese]

i am a new brewer. currently i have the german alt extract kit in the fermentor. i used liquid yeast.

it has been sitting at 64 deg. for about 12 days. took a sample today and its at 1.008, tasted good! i am guessing fermentation is pretty much done and the gravity wont get much lower?

my question is what should i do next? i could either leave it sit at 64 for 2 more weeks, either that or move it to the garage and sort of lager it for the next 2 weeks. there will be more temp swings in my garage i suppose. maybe the beer would be 40-50 degrees out there?

just wondering if it would benefit from that or if i should just leave it be.

thanks

[s_wagner]

Good choice on the Alt kit. I made one myself recently and it was a hit. Fermentation is pretty much done at this point if the SG is at 1.008, but I wouldn’t move it to the garage unless you know the temp is going to be holding steady. While the garage temp of 40 - 50 degrees is ideal for lagering, temperature swings could produce some undesirable results (at least this is what I’ve read). I’d keep it at 64 degrees until you’re ready to bottle, let them sit at least 2 weeks in the bottle at that temp to carb up, and then maybe give them a cold lagering period afterward.

[s_scoggin]

You can put it in your garage inside a large water bath (a swamp cooler). the increased amount of liquid will help prevent against large temperature swings. from there you can regulate/change the temperature with frozen water bottles, or warm water.

[james_rausch]

I’m a big fan of Alts, did one last year, and two varieties this year.
Alts are kind of like the transition between ales → lagers and they definitely benefit from a ‘lagering’ time. It doesn’t have to be as long or as cold as true lagers though. I have gone about 3 weeks.
I go along with S.Scoggin and put my carboy in a swamp cooler in my garage where currently it is in the 40’s. The thermal mass of the swamp cooler water will help prevent temperature fluctuations. And, I really don’t think that even if we get a warm snap and in the worse case temps go to the mid-60’s that will make any difference. The cold helps drop the yeast and extraneous proteins. If it heats up after, so what?
I lager my true lagers the same way, just usually late November- January so the temps stay really cold.

[headcheese]

Thanks for the responses. I do have a plastic tote I can set the bucket in.

Still not sure what I’ll do… Either way I’m sure it will still be good beer! I’ll probably just leave it as is in my basement for another week or so.