Please Help me garage lager

[Tbaz]

I've done the time searching cant get a straight decision. Lots of lager q's
I want to garage lager, i have no choice/no fridge. Garage stays between 32-50. I want to ferment in these temps maybe with a sleeping bag around my bucket in a box( to raise the temp a little/stay constant.) then hopefully 2weeks later it will be ready to rack take out and let lager in temp for 3-4 weeks. I will be using a yeast like 2112 or 2035. Good idea? any thoughts? will the benefits out weigh the risks.

 

[mkling]

I've done the time searching cant get a straight decision. Lots of lager q's
I want to garage lager, i have no choice/no fridge. Garage stays between 32-50. I want to ferment in these temps maybe with a sleeping bag around my bucket in a box( to raise the temp a little/stay constant.) then hopefully 2weeks later it will be ready to rack take out and let lager in temp for 3-4 weeks. I will be using a yeast like 2112 or 2035. Good idea? any thoughts? will the benefits out weigh the risks.

Personally, I think you're going to be too cold for lager fermentation. For most lager yeasts you want a range of 48-54F. There are plenty of things you can do like you suggested to raise temps a little & keep them more constant, but the temp you want to reach is too much at the extreme end of your range I think (32-50F). Your garage will be great for the lagering after fermentation, but I'm not sure how great it'll be for fermentation itself.

 

[McGarnigle]

I did something like this earlier in the Winter. I fermented when it was ~50 degrees and tried to hit lagering when the weather became colder. I used a tub of water to try to keep temps stable. I never really got as low as I'd liked for lager temps, though the beer is nice.

BTW, my storage area (in the back of my garage) doesn't fluctuate anywhere near the range your indicating...I mean, maybe across the all of winter, but not in a two week period. Maybe I'm lucky in that it's below my apartment, sort of undergound-ish. But are you sure you're dealing with that wide a swing?

 

[sudbuster]

I've done the time searching cant get a straight decision. Lots of lager q's
I want to garage lager, i have no choice/no fridge. Garage stays between 32-50. I want to ferment in these temps maybe with a sleeping bag around my bucket in a box( to raise the temp a little/stay constant.) then hopefully 2weeks later it will be ready to rack take out and let lager in temp for 3-4 weeks. I will be using a yeast like 2112 or 2035. Good idea? any thoughts? will the benefits out weigh the risks.

Relaxe, be cool, no pun inended. There are several types of thermal heating wraps you could apply to your fermenter. once fermented, then jog down to the mid 40's. If the ambient temp is above that for a bit , don't worry. I have a 12 week old lager that is ready for carbination and serving under those same conditions. So far, it tastes great.

 

[Short Drive]

I bought a cheap space heater that had ta kind of thermostat that I could regulate the heat out put. I used it to keep the area around my lager at the temperature I wanted.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Perhaps the fermenter in a water bath heated by an aquarium heater. Cardboard / insulated box w/ a heater and ranco temp controller, priced around 50 bucks.