[OCCASparky]

Popped the first bottle yesterday and its like there was no problem with temp.

And lagers make me wish I had kept my little dorm-style fridge from back in the day. Would be perfect for a 5-gallon bucket or PET. I do my brewing, transfers, and bottling in the kitchen, and the fermenting and bottles age in the basement. Now during the summer it's no problem keeping the basement at 68 degrees, but during winter/spring it gets a bit chilly down there (like 58-60.) How much time should I add to allow for proper carbonation if a "normal" time is 10-14 days?

[Mechanicos]

So far have not had to deal with that issue so never had to figure it out. I keep the bottles in a back room inside the house, in the boxes they originally came in. I modified each box by removing the dividers and lining the inside with a heavy duty plastic trash can liner (in case one breaks), then putting the dividers back in.

Its a lot shorter walk to get them this way....

[Red_Devil 232]

I have a couple of PET, brown plastic bottles, I use with each bottling. You can feel them and tell when they have carbonated and assume the rest are at the same carbonation level. If those plastic bottles are rock hard then they are carbed enough - although they may not be aged enough. I try one and if it is ready and tasty I am happy!