My first Lager attempt.... need advice

[BradleyBrew]

Hey everyone! Ok, I would like to do my first lager experience over the next few months in time for Oktoberfest... I do not have a dedicated refrigerator to support "true" lager temperatures. However, I do have a spare frig in the garage that is warmer for just pop, drinks, and of course my *delicious* home brew. The temperature is right at *42. So my question is what wyeast lager yeast will perform the best at this temperature. It appears to be lower then all the recommended temperatures?

How big of a starter will it take to ferment a OG of 1.060? And how long should this take?

Any advice would be very grateful!

Any recipe suggestions for a nice malty German Oktoberfest would be great as well !! Thanks in advance!

 

[HornedFrogBrewer]

Well, the temps you have there would be fine for the lagering portion of making a lager which really isn't as dependent on the yeast as the fermentation. You will need to bring fermentation temps up from that a bit to really get a lager yeast going. I know some people have tried a warming blanket while sitting in a fridge (seems entirely innefficient to me, but...), persoanlly I would try to find another place to ferment then transfer into the spare fridge for lagering for a couple months. If you could live with it you could prbably turn the temp of your fridge up a little bit for fermentation and then back down for lagering but everything in the fridge would be subject to the warmer temps during fermentation.

 

[bannonb]

Agreed with Horndog above about fermentation temps (Wyeast 2633 Octoberfest lager blend has a sweet spot at about 54 degrees).

I made a double large starter for mine...meaning a 1.5L starter of 1.040 wort with the yeast with a stirplate. Stop the stirplate after 24 hrs and let it settle, then pour off the beer. Add another 1.5L of 1.040 wort. Feel free to brew after 24 more hours. Pour off the beer again so you have a nice layer of yeast. I did mine in the fridge at 54 degrees, but others have suggested that it's not necessary. I didn't take the chance because the time investment involved in these lagers is huge.

Don't cheat the yeast and think you want to ferment warmer...it will go crazy at 54 as it is believe me.

Overall to do lagers you need to commit to temp control for fermenting and for lagering...you can do this with your fridge with a simple temp controller.

Good luck, you'll have great beer for Octoberfest. I did mine in March (and call it a Marzen). It's waiting in my kegerator for Autumn.

 

[BradleyBrew]

So do you ferment down to terminal gravity (mid 50's) then lager the beer in the low 40's? So I would just need to keep the brew in the mid 50's until terminal gravity was reached? Thanks!

 

[drummerguysteve]

I do mine In the low 50s and lager at 36. 40s are probably fine for lagering though.

 

[bottlebomber]

You could easily ferment in the 50s with a large rubbermaid chest and some water and ice. Just put in a couple bags of ice to initially get the temp down (you can do this with the fermenter in the icewater to continue to chill it before you pitch yeast), then take frozen gallon jugs of water and rotate them in the water for the fermentation portion. Fermometors on the carboy help a lot to monitor the temp. Admittedly I have never made a lager, but I do this all the time for ales and hold consistent temps in the low 60s with variations of about 2-3 degrees. 1 fresh frozen gallon jug every 8 hours gets me there. Ill bet 2 or those will get you were you need to be. I will probably do a lager soon using this method.

 

[drummerguysteve]

That would probably work. I've never done it because I found a free fridge when I started thinking of lagers, but it sounds good. I'd recommend checking craigslist for fridges too because they have them all the time.

 

[BradleyBrew]

Yeah... no way the wifey will allow 3 refrigerators in the house lol... I think a super swamp cooler would work.. I have used this method to brew ales during the warm summer months.

 

[944play]

This is more precise than a swamp cooler. I use it, and my lagers kick ass IMNSHO.

 

[bottlebomber]

Its a pretty good looking system... I can't see spending the 200 bucks unless I was making several lagers a year, but it looks like it would be fun to make