Stupid WEATHER might ruin my lager...

[BurghBrewer]

So, I have one of those dark, old-school 'Pittsburgh' basements with a concrete floor and visible foundation as the walls, making it perennially cool. In the summer, it's a perfect 68 degrees down there - which I find very advantageous for ales - and after close monitoring in the winter time, I found a corner of the basement that keeps to about 50-55 degrees F at all time. I kept track for the entirety of the previous winter, with plans to brew a Marzen/Vienna lager around the present date.

Last week, I got the grain bill together and got to brewing. It's been a relatively mild winter here, but the temp in my corner remained below - if not directly reaching - 60 degrees. So I brew the beer last friday - wort smelled delicious and it's going to be a beautiful amber color, pitch the yeast and play the waiting game. Yesterday, I head down into the basement to fetch my toolbox and check the temp only to find that it's up to 63 degrees! And now I am sitting in my office and the weatherman is telling me that today's high is going to be around 65! So I know that it is going to raise the temperature of my little "lager corner'...

My question is this: I KNOW I need to get a good refrigerator or some other means to keep a steady lagering temperature - but, if I lager this beer for a month or so and temperatures continue to rise and I am looking at a lagering temperature of 60-65 degrees, am I harming this beer? Will it be all that bad sitting at that temperature? I brewed a lager at ale temperatures before but it was my first batch and thus I didn't expect it to be good (it was okay at best) and I really had high hopes for this brew.

Has anyone else tried this primitive means of lagering and had the same thing happen? Any thoughts?

Thanks!!

 

[dcp27]

try to get a large tub of sorts and rotate in sets of frozen bottles to keep it cool

your basement plan initially seemed fine for fermentation, but how were you planning on lagering it? you really should be at or below 45F for it

 

[Zixxer10R]

Ever heard of a Steam beer? They're quite tasty, and involve a lager yeast being fermented at low ale temps.

 

[JRapp]

Same problem here. Im just working with a modified coopers lager kit(SAFLAGER-23 though), nothing big no intentions on fully lagering it(nor the capability)

2 weeks ago I made my 1st brew (Ale), and where I live houses have no insulation, so I had to work at it with a sleeping bag and a heating pad to keep it fermenting up in the lowish temp range for ales.

Figured awesome, I'll try this lager kit and keep it down at 11C'ish just by letting it hang out in my back bedroom. Cold snap broke hard the morning after I finished brewing(no boil kit, so dont think brewing is the right word), All the sudden im looking at 16-18, high today felt like 65F....argh. Had to whip up a cooler and toss some ice packs in it, brought it down a few degrees.

Would I benefit from letting it sit at 13 and just considering it a Steam Beer?
1.7kg Coopers Lager(prehopped)
1.5kg Amber Malt
500G BE1 (300g dex, 200g maltodex) (im moving to partials after this, no more coopers brew enhancers, more malt)
150G belgium candi
SG 1061
(my 1st hops delivery has yet to arrive, hoping the prehopped is enough to balance)

From now on im sticking with recipies till I understand how things balance out better.

Sorry for hijaking, but could I consider this a "Steam Beer"?

 

[BradleyBrew]

Ever heard of a Steam beer? They're quite tasty, and involve a lager yeast being fermented at low ale temps.

I'm not sure you would want to use any / all lager yeast for this style of beer. I tried one with s-23 and it was not good. However I have a cali lager and san fransico yeast @ 62 degrees and they were very good.

 

[BurghBrewer]

try to get a large tub of sorts and rotate in sets of frozen bottles to keep it cool

your basement plan initially seemed fine for fermentation, but how were you planning on lagering it? you really should be at or below 45F for it

Damn...I thought I could get away lagering at 50-55 degrees for a month. Is that not a good idea? SORRY if that's a stupid question, haha

 

[BurghBrewer]

and I'm even more scared if it's more like 60 degrees...would that harm the brew to lager it at that temp?

 

[dcp27]

well the higher it is, the less lager-like it will be. fermenting/conditioning lower will create a cleaner beer. here's a good write-up on fermenting lagers: http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Fermenting_Lagers

 

[beerman0001]

Damn...I thought I could get away lagering at 50-55 degrees for a month. Is that not a good idea? SORRY if that's a stupid question, haha

Need to get it down to low 30s one week for each gravity point.

 

[BurghBrewer]

Wow, this has been really helpful - thanks! You all have made someone on craigslist 50 bucks richer, and my wife mad at me for ditching her to go pick up a used fridge later!