Octoberfest

Start cool at about 50°F, and hold there for the first forty-eight hours. For every day thereafter, increase temperature by 1°F for ten days. After it’s been in the fermentor for twelve days, it should be at a steady 60°F. Activity in the airlock should be low (but not absent). Then let free rise to ambient temp (70) to ensure a healthy diacetyl cleanup and scrounges up all remaining fermentable sugars. Give the beer an additional nine days (now we’re at three weeks in the fermentor), then cold-crash to near-freezing to begin the clearing process. What remains should be a fully attenuated, malt-complex, fairly bitter, drinkable dry beer. All it needs now is carbonation and time.