Lager in regular fridge

[journeyman846]

For my second brew I decided to go with a 1 gallon batch of Pilsner. I got a free fridge from a friend and setup a Brewpi to keep the temperatures at 55 during fermentation. I am new to this and guess I didn't take in to consideration the amount of time the beer needs to be lagered and with fermentation getting close to being finished I am ready to brew another batch. My question is can I just bottle and move to the regular house hold fridge? I can of course try to turn the temps down and get as close to 34 degrees as I can. What should I do?

 

[Kent88]

People here are starting to reference a home brewer who is only lagering for about two weeks after racking from primary and is getting good results. I've also read a couple pilsner recipes that don't call for a lager in secondary at all.

My guess is that you could just bottle right away, leave temps in the 50s (fahrenheit) for a few weeks to carbonate, and then chill it down as well as you can and it would probably be fine.

 

[BigFloyd]

With what you have available, I'd suggest

1) cold crash the primary after fermentation to clear it

2) Prime/bottle cold then carbonate at room temp 3 weeks

3) lager the bottles in the fridge one week for every 10 OG points (1.040 = 4 weeks)

 

[journeyman846]

With what you have available, I'd suggest

1) cold crash the primary after fermentation to clear it

2) Prime/bottle cold then carbonate at room temp 3 weeks

3) lager the bottles in the fridge one week for every 10 OG points (1.040 = 4 weeks)

OK, that sounds simple enough. I was just worried the other fridge wouldn't keep the beer a consistent enough temperature so I wasn't sure.