keelanfish
Well-Known Member
I brewed a 13 gallon batch of Vienna Lager yesterday. This is my first lager and brewday went great. I'm fermenting in a Sanke Keg using one of Derrin's nifty converters with racking cane, blow off and thermowell. I chilled to 65 degrees with my immersion chiller, then racked into the keg leaving most of the cold break material behind. I then placed the keg in a rubbermaid bin, filling the bottom 6 inches up with water and ice and managed to get it chilled down to around 50 degrees. I then oxygenated with O2 and carb stone and pitched rehydrated S-23 yeast. This morning when I woke up it was at 46 degrees. Before I went to work I setup my controller and fermwrap to kick on when it goes below 46 and added more ice to keep it cool. I plan to ramp that up to 50 and let it ferment at 50 until complete. It's sitting on my back deck, in the shade, but unfortunately the air temperature got up into the 60s today. Over the next weeks daytime highs are to be between 55 and 65 and the nightime lows between 45 and 29. I have no other way to ferment lagers and also don't have any means to record temperature fluctuations while I'm at work. Any thoughts on this setup or advice on ways I can improve the possibility of maintaining constant temperature?