Donnydrywall

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I've been brewing mainly ale extracts and partial mash kits for about a year now and love it. I just picked up an Octoberfest kit. I read in the joy of homebrewing that to lager you should keep the temperature below 55 for lagering yeasts. However, the kit instructions say to lager it at 34-40degrees. My basement is always 53 degrees in the winter. Can I lager at this temperature? does it need to lager longer? Any help and suggestions would be helpful. This is my first lager. A new (or getting a) fridge is out of the question. Let me know.
Don

Yooper

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You'll ferment at around 50 (depending on the yeast strain), and then when fermentation is complete, rack and lager at 34-40 degrees. Lager means "to store", and that's the point of lagering- to store the beer at near freezing temperatures for weeks to smooth out the flavor. I like to lager for one week for each 8-10 points of OG. So, for a 1.060 lager, I'll lager it for 6-8 weeks.

I made a lager today. I'll ferment at 50 for about 10 days, then do a diacetyl rest (so that the yeast can clean up any byproducts of fermentation) at 60 degrees for 48 hours, then rack the beer and begin lagering.

Which yeast strain are you using? The yeast strain is what dictates the actual fermentation temperature.

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DirtyPolock

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The fermenting temperature is usually somewhere in the 50's depending on the yeast strain. It is the lagering phase of fermenting that is can be in the 34-40 degree range. This is where the conditioning of the beer takes place.

Your basement seems as though it would be a great place for the fermenting. Remember that it can take weeks to ferment your lager in contrast to the days that it takes to ferment an ale. You will also need a significant amount of yeast to ferment in the 50's. Probably somewhere aroudn 3-4 times what you are used to using.

if you can't get a fridge I will let someone with more experience in lagering speak up as to how you will be able to complete the lagering phase of your oktoberfest.

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Yooper

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You can lager in the bottle, if you have to! After the fermenation is finished, and the diacetyl rest is over, you can bottle and let the beer carb up at room temperature. Then store it in the fridge for 8 weeks or so. It's not usually what is done, but I don't see any issues with doing that. Sometimes it's easy to store 2 cases of bottles in a fridge than it is a full carboy!

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Donnydrywall

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Yooper, Thanks for the input. The yeast that came with it is the default yeast (a kit). Trying to track down a chest freezer and temp controller. Found that one on Amazon.com for $53. Digital. I think I'm going to be patient and not brew it til I'm set up to lager properly. Oh, on the diacetyl rest...is the 48 hours for all lagers or do some vary on time and temp?
Dirty Polock, thanks for your input too. And Yooper, I considered bottling it and putting it in the fridge but space is limited. The sweetheart might not like it if I kick out all of her fruits and vegetables from the crispers.

Donnydrywall

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Yooper, I forgot something. If I was to go the route of bottling then lagering in the fridge, would I carb up the newly bottled beer at room temp or 55 degrees and for how long? 2 weeks?

brewew

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Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but you should definetely carb at room temps