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I remember my first brew had a surprisingly high FG, but then proceeded to be waaay over carbonated, and I guess I'm lucky that none of them actually exploded.

T.

That's why I love racking. Makes that a non-issue.

I agree, racking helps. These days I'm not quite so impatient, and I tend to let primary fermentation run for about 7-10 days, then rack and allow a secondary fermentation of about 2 weeks, before bulk priming and bottling. With care in sanitation, the risk of infection is not high, and my beers tend to be nice and clear with only a small sediment layer in the bottle.

T.

Have had no time and as such have had to leave bottling for a few days. Am all set to bottle tomorrow.

Just a few questions.

After I bottle should I throw these straight in the fridge? Or should I give them a few days in the bottle at fermentation temp (12-16C) and then throw them into the fridge to lager?

Will try and wait it out a month before trying my first. Can't wait tho

Don't put them in the fridge straight away.
Best to wait at least 2 or 3 weeks to allow them to carb up, particularly during the colder winter weather.

Cheers, will let them sit at fermentation temp for 2 weeks or so before fridging.

FWIW, the part of the house that has become the brewery in my castle, is probably the coldest part of the house. Because fermentation is exothermic (heat generating), my fermenting brews are usually fine, and although they tend to drop slowly in temperature, they stay warm enough. Small bottles (large surface area), with only a small amount of exothermic fermentation tend to sit around 10-12 degrees. As a consequence, I barely need to fridge my ales before drinking them (most are vastly better at ~10 degrees than they are at <4 from the fridge), but they frequently take more than 2 weeks to fully carbonate.

So, if after a couple of weeks, you open one and it is disappointingly flat, or only slightly carbonated, just wait a bit longer. Relax, don't worry, have a .....

dT.