Bottle Conditioning Temperature for Lagers?

[JDC]

I think I know what I've done wrong, but will throw this out there anyway.

I bottled my first lager two weeks ago after batch priming and bunged the whole lot in the fridge straight away thinking that they should be stored cold for lagering.  I cracked one open at the weekend to check on progress and there is absolutely no carbonation there at all (and I mean zip, zero).  Initially, I couldn't work out why as I batch primed exactly as I would do normally with Stouts and Ales.  Then the penny dropped that it must've been the fridge temperature, as I would normally bottle condition at room temperature for a few weeks.

So, I suppose the questions are:

1.   Should I have let Bottle condition at room temperature prior to firing 50 odd bottles into the fridge?  I'm guessing yes.
2.   I have since taken out of fridge, and all is now back at room temperature – Will it carb now, or have I royally messed up?
3.   If I really have messed up, is there anything that can be done as it's a really nice hoppy clear lager, that's as flat as a pancake?

Cheers all.

[molc]

You should be able to bring them to room temperature and invert the bottles to rouse the yeast, assuming it's hasn't been a few months lagering. Then once they're carbed, back to lagering.

It's handy to have a few bottles in PET bottles so you can check progress as you go with a batch.

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

It's handy to have a few bottles in PET bottles so you can check progress as you go with a batch.

+1 On the PET Bottles.  Every bottle conditioned brew I do I use a PET bottle, its great for keeping an eye on carbonation.  Give it a squeeze every now and then.

[JDC]

Cheers Molc, there's hope yet then.  Not being used to lager's, I just had lagering in my head thinking 'get them cold ASAP'.  They were only bottled 2 weeks ago, so room temp and inverted as you say and hopefully they'll be back on track.

Yes, we were only speaking about the PET bottles the other night, so I'll be sure and do that from now on.

Ah well, it's all a fun learning experience for me.