Looking for good Lager advice

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duffman2

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Just did my first lager last week, Mutilated1's Lakeside Lager. Now I'm wanting to get my first Oktoberfest going so it will be ready in time for next fall. My question is, with one cold fermenting vessel (my keezer), how do I best ferment both at the same time when they have different temp requirements at different times?

I've seen that these lagers are supposed to be fermented from the mid to low 50's for the first 2 weeks, then dropped down to low 50's to high 40's for the secondary fermenting time. So, when I'm ready to lager my Oktoberfest (supposed to be at 55 or so) my Lakeside should be at 48 - 50. I don't want to swing my temps too much so I'm looking for some good advice on a temperature compromise.
 
I ferment in primary at 50 degrees until it's just about finished up- usually 10 days to 2 weeks. After that, I rack and lager. The lagering is done at 34 degrees at my house when I can do that. If I lager in my kegerator, it's at 39 degrees. That works fine.

I've never heard of having a lager in the high 40s for secondary.
 
I ferment in primary at 50 degrees until it's just about finished up- usually 10 days to 2 weeks. After that, I rack and lager. The lagering is done at 34 degrees at my house when I can do that. If I lager in my kegerator, it's at 39 degrees. That works fine.

I've never heard of having a lager in the high 40s for secondary.

Ok thanks again Yooper. I think I'm gonna end up making my first lager wait to 3-4 weeks before lagering, which will put my second (Oktoberfest) at about 10 days and then they will both be dropped to 39 F.

This will be about the best method I've got since I only have one fermentation chamber for lagers. Unfortunately this seems like it will force me to wait to lager until the other is basically done. So, one at a time almost. And being new to lagers, I was eager to try quite a few of them soon :(

Oh well, I think I'm up to 18 or 19 batches, so I don't think I'll be running out of beers just yet! ;)
 
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