A lager question

[Silentbob]

Alright... I've got a bit of a problem. This is my second brew... and I HAD to do a lager. For the past two weeks the carboy has sat on the cement stairs under my garage. The temp has stayed stable at around 45 degrees. Right now I've got it up around 65 degrees for a diacetyl rest. The problem is that its unseasonable warm this week, and will be for the next week also. My Lager closet isn't going to be cool enough anymore.

My solution (which is going to PISS the wife off) was going to be throwing the secondary in the fridge when I rack it. My question is this... will dropping the temp to around 38 degrees or so shock the yeast into dormancy?

The only other thing I can think of is throwing together a swamp cooler and trying to gradually lower the temp that way.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

oh... and hello... I'm Dustin!

 

[Silentbob]

The yeast is Czech Budejovice lager WLP802 from white labs... Don't know if that helps

 

[bigbeergeek]

After two weeks of lager fermentation temperatures the bulk of fermentation is likely over. Warming the beer at this point is going to have a negligible affect on the flavor -- that's why a diactyl rest doesn't turn all lagers into ales, after all. Your beer will be fine. Rig up a swamp cooler if you want too, but don't stress yourself out about it. RDWHAHB.

 

[kennywd]

I am no expert but I did just do a lager which right now is in lagering phase @ 38F.. If the D rest is done than what I would try first is the water bath... Stick ur secondary in a water bath and with ice. Or frozen water bottles( bottles are better) try and bring the temperature down to as close to fridge temp. About 5 degrees a day so yeast will adjust. plus, may be able to not piss the wife off for a little bit longer.

This will take a lot of monitoring, but it will be better that dropping too fast. Maybe some one else will have a better idea.

 

[kennywd]

After two weeks of lager fermentation temperatures the bulk of fermentation is likely over. Warming the beer at this point is going to have a negligible affect on the flavor -- that's why a diactyl rest doesn't turn all lagers into ales, after all. Your beer will be fine. Rig up a swamp cooler if you want too, but don't stress yourself out about it. RDWHAHB.

Kinda depends, mine was 72% done @ 2 1/2 weeks in and I raised temp to 65 a 68F. Finished the beer off at that temp and it got its D rest... My final gravity finished off right were it was suppose too. Racked and lagered. Mine did have a butter like flavor and changed on the D rest. Depends on where his gravity is at and were it was suppose to be, and if the yeast haven't stalled.

 

[Silentbob]

The final gravity is supposed to be at 1.008. When I checked it before the D rest it was at 1.011... so its pretty close.

 

[kennywd]

The final gravity is supposed to be at 1.008. When I checked it before the D rest it was at 1.011... so its pretty close.

That's pretty close, I had a really slower fermentation, when I post most ppl told me at about 75% done is when to do the D rest, but depends on if you even had a bad taste in the beer. But either way I would still try to lower the temp slowly with the ice trick or swamp cool if it's possible in ur house.

 

[KuntzBrewing]

Aa far as dormancy goes, my dopplebock I did in september I lagered at 33 degrees F for a month and a half, and bottle conditioned in normal time (3 weeks) so yeast tend to wake up quick lmao don't worry about them, hell most of us store yeast banks in a fridge then make a yeast starter and 24 hrs later the yeast have eaten all sugar and are flocculating...yeast are an odd type of life, they don't need a certain amount of sleep like we do, they don't fall asleep once and never wake up, they live to eat sugar, cold temps let them "nap" but they can wake up whenever u want them too, they work for you and your beer (don't let them forget that either! Lmao)

 

[zacster]

I don't have that kind of control over my temps to bring it down by 5 degrees/day, I have a 50-55 degree room, regular room temps of about 66-70, outside in our balmy NYC winter or the garbage can cooler that I built. I left mine in the can with a water bath and ice bottles. Even on warmer days, and we've had lots of them, the temp would stay around 38 all day with a fresh set of bottles.

I used 2 garbage cans, one 35 gallon and one 20 gallon. I lined the 35 gallon can with R19 insulation, put a styrofoam support at the bottom, and placed the 20 gallon can inside and sealed it with duct tape. I formed a styrofoam ring that I attached to the larger lid that fits snugly at the top of the 35 gallon can, and another ring that fits snugly in the 20 gallon can, but with a small hole that the airlock pokes out of. The biggest problem with this rig is that I have no way of getting the water out except to siphon. I don't want to pour the water out over the duct tape. This is easily solved by putting a spigot on the bottom, but that was more than I wanted to do.

 

[bessieflames]

You only need to cool it slowly if you are a ways from your FG. You should be fine. If you warmed it up for a D rest, that will finish off fermentation and you can crash cool without a problem.

 

[Silentbob]

cool... thanks guys. I was under the impression that if your yeast got too cold it would basically die.

I racked it today. I'll probably just leave it in its closet to clear out, then bottle it and lager it in the fridge. It's a Stella clone... I had a little taste when I racked it. Its tasty already. I have a feeling that I'm gonna be real stingy with the samples when this is done.