natural (i.e. no fridge) lagering in the Inland Northwest in Winter

[MattTimBell]

Hey all,

I'm thinking about brewing my first ever lager, which, I hope, will be something of a darker brew --- maybe a baltic porter. I've had lots of success with ales in the past, including some fairly involved brews (all-grain imperial stouts, belgian quads, etc.). I haven't branched into lagering, however, as I haven't had any way to control the temps.

What's got me thinking about lagering is that I now live in the Inland Northwest, and winter is coming on. I wonder: can I use the winter temps to attempt this? What would be involved?

Any thoughts or experiences?

-- Matt

 

[cgenebrewer]

What temps does your basement reach? I have an older house where the basement is only heated by the furnace and water boiler. I am thinking it should get down around 55 degrees in the winter, so I am going to set a bucket of water down there and take readings to see how the temp fluctuate .

Another option may be a shed? Maybe if you could insulate the beer to temperature swings it could be done.

 

[McGarnigle]

I did this once in Western NY. I used a garage storage area (a small room separate from the garage itself). I choose the right time of year (right about now) so I could hit ~50 degrees ferment and then lower for lagering as it got colder out.

I placed the pail in a swamp cooler to reduce temp fluctuation. Even then, I didn't nail the temps perfectly, but I doubt they did in the olden says.

My Munich Dunkel turned out great.

 

[MattTimBell]

Great! So, temps now over here are about 40 at night and 55-60 during the day. I've got a detached garage, very shed-like. Anything I should watch out for when things go on to the colder end in December? Should I start next week, or wait til early November, when things are stabalizing more in the 35 - 55 deg F range?

 

[McGarnigle]

No idea on most of that. We don't really have stable temps here, so it's always a crap shoot.

I didn't leave it to lager all that long. A few weeks, maybe. If you go into December, be careful about freezing temperature at night (of course, the freezing temp of beer is lower than water).

You have more leeway on the lagering part than the fermentation part. I'll confess, even when I use my brewing fridge for lagering, I'm kind of half-assed on the lagering stage.

So check the upcoming weather forecast and hope for a good week.

And make a big yeast starter.