First time making a lager need input

Got a Munich Helles kit and need some help on how to ferment correctly. Yeast is Brewferm Lager. Directions say to move primary to stable area approx 48-58 degrees. My question is: should I primary in basement(ambient temp. 65 and stable), or in the garage(attached garage with highs this week 40 & lows 30 degrees)? If I did it in the basement I could make a swamp cooler with a muck bucket with some ice. My big concern is keeping the temperature constant the whole time? Any help would be great! Also I only have a ale pail and a bottling bucket. There's no reason I can't primary in my bottling bucket and secondary in my ale pale is there?

I am no lager expert (made my first in September - a bock), but I fermented mine in my garage. I got hold of two of those big styrofoam coolers that they send Omaha steaks out in. I put my fermenter in one and put the other over the top. I filled the bottom with about 6 inches of water. I could put one chunk of ice from a 1 gal ice cream bucket in about every twelve hours and it kept the temp in the cooler at 51. So before work in went an ice block and when I got home in went another. My garage stayed in the 70s most of that time. I was happy. I had a 6 gal fermenting bucket and a 5 gallon bottling bucket I used for years with good success.

Whatever you have to do to keep your primary fermentation temperature stable at around 48-50°F, do it. Despite what the packet states, it's better to keep it at the low end of the range. Then for lagering, ideally you want around 33°F, but within reason, this temperature isn't as crucial to keep stable as primary fermentation.

Helles is a delicate style. There's practically no room for error... no where for the slightest off-flavors to hide.

OK, so everything went off prefect with brewing and chilling. Got my wort to 60 degrees, rehydrated my yeast in 80 degree water. Cooled that down to 60 over half an hour then pitched. Been able to keep temp fairly stable between 48-52 degrees. It's getting close to 48 hours, with no krausen or airlock activity. I rocked my primary a bit this morning. I know after 72 hours I can start worrying, but does it sound like I did everything OK?

I wouldn't worry about it. My current lager didn't show any activity for 4 days and not very much krausen for a day or so after that. There is a healthy krausen layer on it now though and it seems to be doing quite well.

RDWHAHB!