Lager got too cold!!

I have a lagering fridge our under our carport. Being in Texas, sub freezing weather isn't the norm but we're going through a cold spell for a few days. I've got a lager that I brewed on Saturday night that has been fermenting away nicely until today. I got home and because of the weather the fridge thermostat was reading 34. I put a higher wattage bulb inside and rigged the light to stay on. The temperature has slowly started to rise since I did that.

The problem is that I'm getting no sign of activity now since the temp got so low. Do I just bring the temp back to 50 and wait for bubbling to begin again or do I need to raise the temps a bit more and maybe do a gentle shake with the fermenter?

should just come bac on its own. I had something similar happen when my heater broke and it came back fine like 3 days later but mine only went down to~40f

also in texas. doing a lager that way. i had to move the fermenters into the coldest room in my house and close the door, as it got too cold outside

ptp1267 said:

should just come bac on its own. I had something similar happen when my heater broke and it came back fine like 3 days later but mine only went down to~40f

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Hopefully. It's up to 48 so maybe bubbling will commence soon.

also in texas. doing a lager that way. i had to move the fermenters into the coldest room in my house and close the door, as it got too cold outside

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Unfortunately I've got a 3 bedroom house and two kids. There is no cold room! Lol. Hopefully I can keep the temps up enough for the next few days.

EllisTX said:

Hopefully. It's up to 48 so maybe bubbling will commence soon.

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Don't sweat it if you don't get bubbles...you may not. Just let it go and check the gravity when you normally would plus a week or so for the stall. Personally, I'd leave it for a month, take a reading, and go from there.

Good Luck

are you measuring the temp of the fermenter, or the temp of the fridge? there could be a big difference...

TANSTAAFB said:

Don't sweat it if you don't get bubbles...you may not. Just let it go and check the gravity when you normally would plus a week or so for the stall. Personally, I'd leave it for a month, take a reading, and go from there.

Good Luck

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I'd like to RDWHAHB but all I have is conditioning and isn't ready. I've got the fridge turned off with the light inside on. Now I hope it doesn't get too hot

strat_thru_marshall said:

are you measuring the temp of the fermenter, or the temp of the fridge? there could be a big difference...

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Both. The fermenter is down to 40-42. 48-55 is the range for the yeast. I've got to get the fridge temp back up so the fermenter will get back to optimal temps.

here in texas we wait for the temps to drop, and hope they hold steady for some lagering. last year it worked, and i did an awesome schwarzbier. this year, it's been so up and down i'm just having to risk shocking the yeast and moved it inside to 66 from 52 to avoid 10 degrees

EllisTX said:

I'd like to RDWHAHB but all I have is conditioning and isn't ready. I've got the fridge turned off with the light inside on. Now I hope it doesn't get too hot

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I'm in the same boat...decimated the pipeline with a big party
and my Belgian Pale won't get bottled til this weekend.

Soooo, RDWHAGB!!! Commercial will have to see us through!

TANSTAAFB said:

I'm in the same boat...decimated the pipeline with a big party
and my Belgian Pale won't get bottled til this weekend.

Soooo, RDWHAGB!!! Commercial will have to see us through!

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I have to admit that I've had a few St Arnold's Brown Ales. If it already wasn't going bad for me, some jerk switched out an IPA for one of the browns in the six pack. That happened to be the first one I grabbed and the whole beer(I had it in a koozy and couldn't see the label) I kept telling myself that it was the worst brown ale I've ever had!! It wasn't until I pulled it out of the koozy that I noticed what it was.

FWIW, up here in Boston I've found it's easier to keep something 50 degrees in a 65 degree house than outside with all the temperature fluctuations. I put a couple of bottles of water outside until they freeze and rotate them into a box with my primary and some blankets stacked on top. Two frozen (or cold) bottles will keep it around 50 degrees for a day or two, then switch. For lagering I do the opposite (rotate warm water bottles from inside outside to the porch). That keeps it around 30-40

I'll probably have to rig something up until it warms up a bit. We go through tons of milk and juice so I might freeze some of those.