I am going to share a success

I boiled an Oktoberfest about 6 weeks ago. I let it sit in the primary for about 5 weeks. I transfered it to a secondary and put it in the garage to lager and it has been there for a little over a week. I will leave it in there for another 2 weeks.

It has been below 30 degrees for the past 2 or 3 weeks here in Chicago. I was worried about How I'd lager, I don't have a fridge big enough to hold a carboy. So, I put it in the garage and wrapped it in a blanket, some plastic, and put a cardboard box over it. I have checked it a few times and it hasn't froze. So, if you live in a cold area and have no place to lager, wrap your bucket/carboy in a blanket and some plastic and you will be good. Also, I have it sitting on a throw rug.

That's great. I hope this works out for you. I found by accident once that you can get down to about 28F before your typical lager will begin to freeze. I had a thin layer of ice crystals, so I turned the temp controller up a couple of degrees.

What's your Oktoberfest recipe? I did the NB Oktoberfest and I was very happy with it. Just curious, why did you do a 5 week primary on a lager?

i got the Brewer's Best kit. the reason it was in the primary for so long is because I was lazy and procrastinated.

KMKsuburbannoise said:

the reason it was in the primary for so long is because I was lazy and procrastinated.

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Probably one of the few times where procrastination will pay off! I let a beer go for 5 weeks once because I got sick and procrastinated. It was the best beer I ever brewed.

at those temps you would be fine. yeast does put out some heat.

won't work in fargo, nd. it is -20*F tonight

I started my first lager today. I usually use ale yeast and ferment inside at 66. Today I am using Saflager s23 and it is supposed to ferment ideally between 51-59f. Right now it is in the unheated laundry room and sitting at 57 after a few hours. I pitched at 63.

Dude, let me know how it goes. I'm currently in primary with the same kit (came with brewferm german lager yeast). I plan on lagering for about a month at 38C.

Of course lagering at ambient temperatures in GA in winter is different than doing so in Chicago in winter, but the temp for primary is perfect here so I went and did it and am lagering in my busted ass fridge.