Brewing Lager

I have a packet of Fermentis lager yeast, and my basement stays in the 50s during the winter...will I be able to brew some lager? The only problem is that I don't have an extra fridge to keep it all in after bottling.

Get the wort down to 50 F also.
Some people pitch lagers 60-70 but hear this leads to some off flavors.

Leave the bottled beer as cold as you can get

I've done some lagers by doing the primary fermentation in the basement at 50 degrees, and then racking to secondary and after that dropping the temperature 5 degrees per day to begin the lagering. I didn't have an extra fridge, so I did this by putting my carboy into an ice cube cooler in the basement. Then I added water. Then I added a frozen water bottle, then two. I changed out the water bottles every 3 days or so, and kept it at 34 degrees like that for 6 weeks! I had to make a different top for the cooler, out of foam that allowed the airlock to poke through. (See my gallery for the pictures)

This worked so well, I'll do it again this winter with another maibock.

I suppose I could keep the bottles outside if it's cold enough (which it probably will be).

During the winter I actually move my fermenters outside if the temps don't fall too far...

Yooper Chick said:

I didn't have an extra fridge, so I did this by putting my carboy into an ice cube cooler in the basement. Then I added water. Then I added a frozen water bottle, then two. I changed out the water bottles every 3 days or so, and kept it at 34 degrees like that for 6 weeks! I had to make a different top for the cooler, out of foam that allowed the airlock to poke through.

Click to expand...

I recently purchased the Igloo 70qt cooler which is identical to yours except for a different top. I'm happy to hear that you've successfully lagered in it. That is definitely in my future plans. With yours, how much water did you put into the cooler?

Cooler link: http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_1/601-5775004-8692106?ie=UTF8&asin=B000F6UJ5K