Lagering Frig Schedule

[MikeWI]

A friend of mine recently gifted me with his old refrigerator to use as a lagering frig. It's pretty big and would hold 4 buckets or carboys. But I'm wondering how to schedule multiple lager fermentation/lagering temps with only one fridge.

The only thing I can think of is to cook up multiple batches on the same day with around the same OG and hope they ferment at about the same rate. Or maybe get another fridge for the fermentation (my wife is going to kill me) and just use the big fridge for lagering.

Anyone out there with multiple lagers in the pipeline, how do you work it? Thank you!

Mike

 

[QuaffableQuips]

I always plan my lagers so that I can do 2-3 in a row. First batch goes in on my first brew day, second batch a week later (I brew on weekends), and third a week after that. I just keep the fridge at primary temp (usually 48-50ish) until the last one is done primary-ing. This means that the first batch will have been sitting for a couple of weeks after it was done, but that's okay in my book. Then I dial down the temp by 5 degrees per day or so until I hit 30ish and start the lagering process.

 

[airving]

Or get 1 or more heating belts (and temperature controllers, probably) - a bit wasteful, sure, but could allow you to temporarily adjust the temp of one or more of your in-progress brews independent of the fridge temp while still using just the one fridge.