How do you brew when lagering

[DrunkleJon]

The Title says it. When you have 1 temp controlled location, how do you brew when it is taken up with the process of lagering? I try to shoot for brewing weekly or every other week, or at least have two batches going at a time. When your ferm chambers are full or mid lagering where do you ferment your other batches? I really wanna buy another chest freezer and make a second but am going to hold off a while. Otherwise I may wall off a portion of my garage and make a walk-in. But for the time being while I am planning all of that out, how do you all do it?

 

[beaksnbeer]

The Title says it. When you have 1 temp controlled location, how do you brew when it is taken up with the process of lagering? I try to shoot for brewing weekly or every other week, or at least have two batches going at a time. When your ferm chambers are full or mid lagering where do you ferment your other batches? I really wanna buy another chest freezer and make a second but am going to hold off a while. Otherwise I may wall off a portion of my garage and make a walk-in. But for the time being while I am planning all of that out, how do you all do it?

Saisons will work well at most inside ambient temperatures.

 

[neosapien]

saisons, belgians, and swamp coolers!

 

[Spartan1979]

I usually lager in a keg so my fermentation chamber is free for another beer.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I usually lager in a keg so my fermentation chamber is free for another beer.

Same here. Since I keg, it's easy to transfer out of primary into a corny for lagering. Of course, I also bought a spare fridge to serve as my beer fridge and my lagering fridge (and I make sure to ALWAYS refer to it as the "lagering fridge" so SWMBO knows that it's only available for her to keep things cold when I'm *not* using it.

To the OP -- If it's possible to get a second fridge cheap off Craigslist, think about it... The nice thing about a lagering fridge is that you don't need temp control, as a standard fridge is already the right temp. So you can keep it cheap, and you have the advantage of having a spare fridge in case you need it for other reasons (such as beer or SWMBO)...

 

[Monster Mash]

I usually lager in a keg so my fermentation chamber is free for another beer.

That's what I do also. I transfer into 5 kegs and put them in the fridge, when I want to serve one I transfer it into a clean keg and leave the trub behind.

 

[Cyclman]

I keep my beer fridge at 40, so I can lager 2 cornies on the bottom of that while still holding lots of bottles. I know that's warm for lagering, but the beers have come out super awesome nonetheless, so far.

Just spent enough on AMEX to buy a 5CF chest freezer, so I will use that for temp controlled fermentations, ales and lagers. I had a rigged dorm fridge / cooler, but it only held one corny, so that was the choke point on my pipeline. Fortunately, my basement stays in the 60s without much temp variation, works great for ales.

With all I spend on ingredients, I think spending (AMEX points, at least) on great temp control will be highly worthwhile.

 

[beaksnbeer]

My lagering fridge holds 3 fermenters, I run 28 kegs 14 cold in my 12 tap keezer + 2 three gallon kegs on the hump. So with a solid pipeline I never have to rush any beer, We have a brew day this weekend so hoping to brew 2 separate 5 gallon batches as I have 2 empty fermenters. Kegged 2 on Tuesday so room in the pipeline.

 

[Beernik]

My basement stays a fairly consistent 68F except for in the summer. Right now my cellar is about 55F. In the summer, when the basement gets up to 72F, the cellar is only up to 68F.

As long as I'm not fermenting in late July - early August, I always have reasonable ale temps.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Wow. Thanks for the responses. I am going to ponder this. I may yet need another or larger chest freezer anyway so I can possibly upgrade and repurpose. Darn addicting hobbies.

 

[InLimbo]

Looks like HBT has spoken as you get to build a kegorator/keezer now to dispense beer AND lager! You're welcome : )

 

[DrunkleJon]

Hmm.. I guess I do get to add to the collection of cooling cases. I already have 3 refrigerators and 2 chest freezers.

Refrigerator upstairs for my renters
Refrigerator downstairs for my food use and hops
1970s hotpoint refrigerator under the stairs (built into the house)
7cf keezer
7cf ferm chamber freezer.

Maybe I should upgrade the keezer to hold more and use that one for lagering or a secondary ferm chamber. Akk. Too many projects not enough time or budget.

 

[BetterSense]

I serve, lager, and ferment all in the same 7.0 cu ft freezer. I call it my "keezmentlagering" chamber. The serving kegs and lagering kegs are both at 4C, and the fermenter is heated to whatever temperature I want to ferment at with heat tape.

 

[Arg1129]

Not trying to hijack but looks like the OP already got an answer so ill ask my question.

Several people wrote they lager in a keg which is what I planned on doing. Does everyone rack into a clean keg to serve or do they just pull off a half gallon and dump that yeast and trube. I haven't done it yet but want to do a Bock next.

 

[DrunkleJon]

I serve, lager, and ferment all in the same 7.0 cu ft freezer. I call it my "keezmentlagering" chamber. The serving kegs and lagering kegs are both at 4C, and the fermenter is heated to whatever temperature I want to ferment at with heat tape.

That has gotta be a bit of a strain on the freezer since you have your fermenter acting as a space heater for it.

 

[Yooper]

Not trying to hijack but looks like the OP already got an answer so ill ask my question.

Several people wrote they lager in a keg which is what I planned on doing. Does everyone rack into a clean keg to serve or do they just pull off a half gallon and dump that yeast and trube. I haven't done it yet but want to do a Bock next.

A HALF GALLON?!?! No! It's about 2 ounces that you just pour and dump.

Once the beer sits at fridge temperatures for weeks, all that is going to fall out is down at the bottom. You open the tap, and pour a couple of ounces of yeast. Dump that, and if you don't move the keg again, you won't have any more trub at all in the pours.

 

[beaksnbeer]

A HALF GALLON?!?! No! It's about 2 ounces that you just pour and dump.

Once the beer sits at fridge temperatures for weeks, all that is going to fall out is down at the bottom. You open the tap, and pour a couple of ounces of yeast. Dump that, and if you don't move the keg again, you won't have any more trub at all in the pours.

+1 or as soon as it clears you rack to a clean keg and leave the sediment behind

 

[BetterSense]

That has gotta be a bit of a strain on the freezer since you have your fermenter acting as a space heater for it.

It's not. It takes very little heat to keep an insulated keg at ale temps. Or even an uninsulated one. I have a 20W heat tape and it runs probaby 1/3 the time. 7W is nothing for a freezer, at least I can't tell a difference in cycling.

 

[Arg1129]

Thank you Yooper I guess I have been a bit overzealous with trying to get the settled yeast out.

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

Not trying to hijack but looks like the OP already got an answer so ill ask my question.

Several people wrote they lager in a keg which is what I planned on doing. Does everyone rack into a clean keg to serve or do they just pull off a half gallon and dump that yeast and trube. I haven't done it yet but want to do a Bock next.

Cold crashing and being careful when moving the beer to the keg eliminates the yeast and trub. The cake tends to stay firm, so racking off it is pretty easy. I force carb, so I don't need the yeast in the keg to begin with.

 

[November]

I usually lager in a keg so my fermentation chamber is free for another beer.

This. I built my keezer with room for one keg more than I have taps for just for this purpose.