Fire escape lagering

[NateKerx]

can I lager on my fire escape this fall/winter/spring? I live in new york city so you probably know the winter temp range... I'm not looking for the best lager on the planet here, but i dont have a second fridge yet, and when i do its going to be keeping kegs nice and frosty, so it this worth trying because honestly, i dont want to lower a glass carboy out of my second story window for nothin'!

 

[Kevin Dean]

I've not had a "decent" winter in a while, I'm origianlly from Michigan, spent the past few years in Kentucky and Maryland...

Anyway, using glass, I'd say that NY gets too cold to lager ouside, but this is purely a common sense guess.. I could be wrong totally and you could make some damn fine brews, but I'd think that the swings in temp might stress the yeasts more than makes sense.

 

[zoebisch01]

The biggest trouble will be overcoming temperature fluctuations. You might be able to make an insulating jacket and set the thing out when you are dipping into the 40's at night and 50's during the day. But you'll have varying results though. For the ferment you want a fairly consistent temperature for around 10 to 15 days at least because Lager yeast are working much more slowly than Ale yeasts. You could possibly,with some innovation and expenditure, work out a method....but like I said it will probably lean towards producing inconsistent results which will be frustrating. Oh and, I would by no means ever use a glass carboy in that situation! You could end up killing somebody down below. My vote is, good idea but unless you think up a really good method to buffer the temperature swing and get a better bottle carboy then it's not worth the time and effort imo Spend your time and resources with a really small lagerator.

 

[TheJadedDog]

I know what NY winters are like and based how they have been lately, I wouldn't try it. You might have 40 degrees one day and then be at 60 degrees a few days later. You'd be better off using a clean fermenting ale yeast or using a lager yeast at the high end of its temp range and skipping the lagering.

 

[libs]

If you do try this, make sure you protect it very well from the sun. I know this seems obvious, but just thaught it should be mentioned.

 

[Bobby_M]

One thing you could do is build a small fermentation box out of rigid foam like the "son of fermentation chiller" and make a board for a window. This board would have two 4" holes for dryer vent hose. Of course, you'd rig a fan on one of them on a cheap thermostat to come on when the temp raises. This is identical in function to SOFC but you'd use outside cold air instead of changing out ice daily.

You get solid temps for one thing and your temp range can be anything from outide temp to inside temp.

 

[alerievay]

What about using one of the Igloo IceCube coolers for fermentation/lagering? http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=60288

I just started using one of these in my Brooklyn apartment, and it's compact, doesn't need to be plugged in, and works well so far. I have my Kolsch firmly in the upper 50s/low 60s, even though the lid doesn't close all the way. I replace the blue ice packs or soda bottles once a day. I plan to build the foam lids described in the link this weekend.

 

[olllllo]

I wonder how many free batches you could confiscate in a day with a Fire Marshall Badge?

 

[Bobby_M]

The icebatch method works just fine but it's not in the spirit of using the natually cold environment of a northeast winter. To me, changing out water bottles daily is a pain in the ass and it does take quite a bit of energy over the course of a real "lager". The other issue is that the temperature is not all that constant. You can overdo it.

 

[rod]

i use the icebox method - and it is labour instensive for a 3 month lager - but i can vary the temp from 46-50 for ferment and 38-40 for lagering depending on the number of ice jugs i place around the carboy daily.

 

[NateKerx]

hmmm seems like a pretty resounding no on the fire (oh and relax everybody if the beer does go out the window, of course its gonna be in PET plastic.)

I really really like the SOFC mod idea, I used a cooler/ice bath to keep my ales where they needed to be this summer and it wasnt how i'd chose to do things year round.

In my building the thermostat is a little wonky and sometimes it gets pretty hot inside in the winter, soeven if im only using it for ales the foam box seems like a good way to go.