Cool Brewing Lager?

[ricshayne]

Anyone have a Cool Brewing Ferm jacket and successfully Lager? contemplating giving it a go.

 

[ricshayne]

Anyone.......?

 

[Yooper]

I have one, but never think to use it.

For my lagers in the summer, I've done this, my "Yooper Lagerator":

I have a water bath in there, up to the level of the beer, and put frozen water bottles in the water as needed to maintain 49-50 degrees during fermentation.

It would probably be pretty easy to hold it at 50 degrees for 10 days if you exchanged frozen water bottles as needed, but holding it at 34 for 6 weeks would be more challenging.

 

[SeraW]

I just got one in and was planning on giving it a shot starting this week following Brulosopher's quick lager schedule.

 

[Zekk]

I plan on trying it with my cool bag in the winter. That way the ambient is a good 10-15* cooler. Probably need a lot of frozen water bottles and change them out pretty regularly.

 

[Sammy86]

I use my cool brew for all my fermentations...I've found that using 2 liter frozen bottles has done wonders...right now I have an ale going at 64 with only 1 frozen bottle changed every 8-12 hours

 

[theheroguy]

I did ferment a pilsner in a cool brewing jacket.

Primary fermentation was no problem.

Lagering was a pain. With about 12 frozen water bottles swapped out on a daily basis I was able to easily keep 4.5 gallons around 42*. I share one freezer with 4 other people in my apartment so messing around with all those water bottles was a pain for me. If you have more space and are willing to change a bunch of bottles every day + having a few extra in the fridge for when bottles don't freeze in time, it will be doable.

I would just use a altbier yeast for primary and due a 2 week lager below 45*.

 

[scooterm]

I use one for ales but have a cheap wine fridge I use for lagers. Easy to get to that 45-55 range.

 

[ricshayne]

Awesome! thanks for all the replies. was really wanting to brew a Bier De Garde soon and I think i will give it a shot knowing that it is possible with enough frozen bottles!