First Pilsner

[gbevs]

I don't normally lager beers (and there's a reason). I don't have room in my fridge to lager my carboy. Just did my first pilsner and it seems to be fermented after 10 days. I'm doing a diacytle rest for 24 hours at 64 degrees and then I was going to lager it outside since the weather is supposed to be 30-45 degrees for a while. But, the temps will fluctuate. Any suggestions on how to pull this off? Thinking I might insulate it in something (what?) and put it in my shed.

 

[ghpeel]

Any chance the temps will drop below freezing for more than a day? I wouldn't want you to have an exploded carboy/bucket and frozen chunks of beer everywhere.

 

[osagedr]

Your d-rest should have been done with about 10 gravity points to go. It probably won't accomplish much at this point, especially for only 24 hours. The good news is that diacetyl is not that common anyway if your fermentation went well.

If your temp doesn't get below 30 then your risk of freezing is minimal. Temperature fluctuations aren't ideal but there isn't much you can do--maybe wrapping insulation around your vessel or placing it in an insulated container.

Good luck!

 

[res291que]

I have heard of putting fermenter in a container of water and the water should help to keep temp more stable .. never tried it myself. Good luck.