Bought a very simple brew kit Friday, a starter kit from my LHBS, includes primary bucket, carboy and most of the other necessities (airlock, siphon, bottling cane, sanitizer) and a 5G Festa Brew Blonde Lager kit.

A basic rundown of the process recommended, is :

Sanitize primary, cup
rehydrate yeast (S-23 lager) in cup
pour "brewers wort" into primary
add yeast and gently stir

and for Fermenting
Leave bucket lid barely on (don't seal) for 2-4 days until Krausen starts to fall
siphon to secondary, sealed for 7-10 days/ when airlock loses activity
batch prime
bottle for minimum two weeks at room temperature then move to fridge.

I'm currently fermenting with lid barely on, and weary of racking in the next 2 days because it seems a little out of the norm of standard processes.

Wondering if anyone is familiar with this product and knows any "tricks"

First off....that is a lager yeast, what temp are you fermenting @? I have 2 brews fermenting right now with S23 and I like to keep them @52-54.

As far as transferring to a secondary goes there are many opinions on this. IMO I dont ever use a secondary. I put my brew in the primary for 2 weeks @temps in the low 50's. Then I warm it up to about 68 for a few days to let the yeast clean things up. Then I cold crash for a week or so before I keg it.

If you have a place to "Lager" it @ temps in the 30's for a month or 2 then I would use the secondary.

It sounds like you don't have an airlock for the bucket. Since you started it this way, I'd let it continue like this for a week, or just until krausen (the foam from the yeast) starts to fall.

Then, I'd rack it into the secondary and attach the airlock.

From there, give it AT LEAST another week, perhaps a bit longer...more time will only help it.

S-23 is a lager yeast, but it's pretty forgiving of higher temps. You'll get some fruitiness for sure, but it's not bad. But definitely try to keep it to 65° or lower. If you're fermenting below 60°, I'd give it at least three weeks total time fermenting.

After fermentation finishes out, if you can put it somewhere cool (or even cold...30-50°) for at least a week or so before you bottle, I'd give that a shot. If not, no worries...just bottle it up.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

@ High Iron - the primary is upstairs at 62 degrees at the moment, will bring the secondary downstairs when i siphon at around 54-58 for two weeks

Thanks for the input guys

For future reference: it would be better to do your primary downstairs in the 50's and ring upstairs in the 60's for a couple days (diacytel rest.)
Lager yeast will also benefit with an extended cold conditioning period in the thirtys. Before or after bottling.

another quick question - i made a Mr Beer batch 11 days ago with US-05 yeast, i used half, quickly folded it over and refridgerated it in a plastic bag since.

Making another batch today, will those yeasties still work right?

They should, though you should definitely rehydrate them.

Thank you!