Can I brew a lager without a dedicated fridge?

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Robusto

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Ok guys, time for my dumb question of the day:
Can I brew a good lager without a dedicated, temp controlled fridge?
I have a cool (temp, not style) basement that hovers around 60-65 degrees. I want to brew a light lager, like Grolsch or Stella. I have an insulated chamber that I made from 2 inch thick rigid foam insulation that I can pack with ice or dry ice I guess. So is it possible?
 
Your basement sounds cool (style, not temp). :)

To be a little more helpful, it would sound like if you can keep steady lagering temps with your enclosed chamber then you're all set. Just make sure you can keep those temps steady. I don't have a way to keep temps incredibly steady myself or i would have hands on experience for ya.
 
Yes you can, but be prepared for some off flavors. It will probably come out very fruity and might have a lot of diacetyl taste to it. Depends on the strain, but you probably won't get the clean, dry flavor you are looking for at ale temperatures.

Your insultated chamber with ice should work just fine.

Short answer: YES it is possible.
 
I imagine it will be tough to keep it at 50 degrees, but it's not impossible
 
So there is 1 annoying problem... lagering the beer. You might be able to get the thing to 50-55 with a lot of work and such, but honestly 45 is the temperature that I have found I like for a lager. Typically the way I do it is to pitch at about 52, drop the temp after 1 day to 45 and let it sit for 3 weeks. I then lager 1 week for every 10 points, a 1.060 beer takes 6 weeks, but I lager at 32-34, at least 10 deg cooler than your fermentation. Short answer is that I would hate to waste all that time and effort to get a beer with off flavors. Actually though, you happen to have the PERFECT temperature range to do a California Common or Steam ale. That might be worth considering, but honestly I don't think it's possible to do a lager outside of the winter time without a dedicated fridge.
 
A good lager will be tough with your setup. You might consider a hybrid beer like a California Common Ale, or maybe something like a Kolsch. Or a well-made pale ale might be close enough to what you are looking for.
 
kolsch might be a good choice, or if your looking for something on the lighter side of things, with the cripsness of a lager, try a blonde or a cream ale and use a very clean yeast like nottingham or s05. I have heard great things about nottingham in the very low 60s to high 50s even. It is supposed to have a lot of lager characteristics while still being an ale. Also a good or even above recommended pitch rate should help you out as well.

Also if you have the fridge space for bottles, you could put them in there for several weeks after they are carbonated, and that will also give it a quasi-lagering effect.
 
It can be done. I wanted to see if there was really any issues using a lager yeast at 60-62 degrees so I threw something together to find out. I made a starter using WLP 0830 German Lager yeast and used it with a Coopers Australian Bitter kit and 1.5lbs of cane sugar for an O.G. around 1.040. For the record Australian bitters use a high percentage of cane sugar as they're adjunct lagers.

So I fermented it at 60-62 for couple weeks and then let it sit for 10 days or so at 50. After that I kegged and bottled a few. It turned out fine. I've also done a few of these kits that were fermented at 50 degrees and lagered at 34 for 2 weeks. Can't say there was a huge difference. That doesn't mean I'd ferment my authentic German lagers at 60 but you get the idea.
 
I would use the Wyeast 2112 California Lager yeast if I had a basement like that. It's optimal temp range is 58-68*F, right in your zone.
 
Ok guys, time for my dumb question of the day:
Can I brew a good lager without a dedicated, temp controlled fridge?
I have a cool (temp, not style) basement that hovers around 60-65 degrees. I want to brew a light lager, like Grolsch or Stella. I have an insulated chamber that I made from 2 inch thick rigid foam insulation that I can pack with ice or dry ice I guess. So is it possible?


I know in Winter here in Ohio, the Unheated side of my basement avg's about 50-55 Still a tad warm but i do plan to do a dark lager this winter at that temp.
 
I know in Winter here in Ohio, the Unheated side of my basement avg's about 50-55 Still a tad warm but i do plan to do a dark lager this winter at that temp.

Consider S-23 at that temp. I read that it liked things a bit on the warm side so fermented right in that range and was very pleased with the results.
 
I should have mentioned this before but you can get very clean crisp results using the dry American ale strain at lower temperatures. It will not be a true lager, but it will produce a very good, clean and crisp beer.
 
Ok, I should probably clarify-
I have plenty of fridge space for the bottles once the beer is done fermenting.
The reason that I am making a lager is that I have a weird allergy to many ales and wines. :( So I am going off of what I know that I can drink. I don’t want 5 gallons of beer that I can’t drink in my fridge.
I was asking about this route because my fridge is an old POS that can’t maintain temp very well. I bought a fridge thermometer, and it never goes above 40, but can go as low as 20… probably not good for fermentation.

New questions…
What is the “optimal” temp for fermenting a lager and how long should you leave it in the primary?
Do I need to rack a lager into a secondary? If so, for how long and at what temp?
Once bottled, how long should it be bottle conditioned?
How much carbonation should I shoot for to match the commercial versions?

Thank you all so much.
 
What is the “optimal” temp for fermenting a lager and how long should you leave it in the primary?
Do I need to rack a lager into a secondary? If so, for how long and at what temp?
Once bottled, how long should it be bottle conditioned?
How much carbonation should I shoot for to match the commercial versions?

The optimal temperature for fermenting a lager depends on the yeast strain. My rule of thumb is to go as low as possible in the fermentation range, except for with S-23, where I go at least to 55 to avoid fruitiness. My favourite lager yeast is W-34/70 and I will try to ferment around 48 with that, maybe even a bit lower.

You should leave your lager in the primary until your diacetyl rest is complete. Your diacetyl rest should be begun when your SG hits 1.020, or just under. After d-rest you should rack to a secondary or other lagering vessel and take your beer down to just over freezing. I usually just crash it, but sometimes will take it down 3 degrees per day.

It should be bottle conditioned for long enough to carb up, which will depend on your yeast strain. If you have lagered for an extended period of time you might consider introducing new yeast (I think 1/4 packet is the rule of thumb but I could be mistaken) at bottling to ensure you have enough active cells to carb up your beer. The rule of thumb is "3 weeks at 70 degrees" but if you are carbing up with a lager strain you obviously don't need 70 degrees. To me it makes sense that you could use an ale strain to carbonate then do it at room temperature since the bottling strain should not impact your flavour. To be safe I'd use something clean and highly flocculant.

The level of carbonation depends on the specific style but lagers are generally relatively highly carbonated. Take a look at the following link:

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html
 
Yes you can, but be prepared for some off flavors. It will probably come out very fruity and might have a lot of diacetyl taste to it.

I thought diacetyl was cleaned up by higher temps (60F+). If he has trouble maintaining lower temps, I would think that he wouldn't have a problem with diacetyl at all.
 
I thought diacetyl was cleaned up by higher temps (60F+).

It is also, apparently, created (in greater quantity) by higher temps (nearer the beginning of the ferment). So if you keep the temp low and well-controlled from the start, there is less diacetyl to rest for, as well as fewer esters.
 
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