Cheapest way to start lagering

If you have a basement that stays around 60F right now, take that, a 30 gal tupperware filled halfway with water, and some frozen two-liters/milkjugs and replace them every 10 hours. You'll need 55F ish. Otherwise a cheap refrigerator and an analogue thermometer override.

 

People lagered without electricity by finding a place that stayed the same temperature year round without fluctuation (like deep dark icy mountian caves) or by transporting ice rom frozen lakes in the winter into deep dark non-icy caves.

If you have access to such a place by all means, start lagering there. otherwise you have two options:

1. Buy a fridge and a temperature controller
2. Lager only in the winter in a cold place ( Garage, basement, porch,....) and rig up a heating pad or lightbulb to keep it warm enough.

 

55F is okay (though a bit high IMO) for Lager Fermentation. But he'll need to get down to 40F or lower for Lagering, i.e. cold conditioning storage after fermentation is finished.

 

Analogue is cheaper than digital. I'd trade my digital for analogue in a heartbeat. Johnson should make one for $50ish and there are cheaper on ebay. Craigslist a fridge or freezer and keep an eye out for one around $50. Keep in mind it's easier to get a fermenter out of a fridge than a freezer if you like your back.

 

Nah man, you want a full size fridge or chest freezer.

 

Carboys are unfortunately taller than you think. There's like 1 minifridge that you can actually fit a carboy into, but if I recall correctly it's like $300+ new anyway.

 

Am I taking you too literally?

I like that my digital can go hot or cold. I'm not sure if the analogs can.

Right now my basement is about 60-62 degrees. That makes for problems. Especially with a yeast like WLP007. I need to start out cooling the active fermentation but after a few days switch to heating. I need for a warmer fermentation to finish and also not let the beer chill too much or the yeast will stall.

 

I can't do hot with a digital Johnson. I haven't tampered with it, but I've heard I need to if I want to hook it to a heat lamp. What's the other one, (Randall?) that's set for both?

 

I don't think that the Randall does both.

I looked at the swing on those. Both are around 3*. I'd be afraid at that would drop my/some yeast too soon. I know with a freezer that I sometimes get an addition degree drop.

 

I started lagering au naturale in my Victorian Era basement before I was given a FREE mini-fridge that a 6 gallon carboy fit in with only slight door modifications. This winter's project is to build a fermentation chamber which incorporates the mini-fridge but can hold at least 2 carboys. An analog temp controller along with some stick-on thermostrips works great. My suggestion is to find a cheap/free refrigeration unit and go from there...

 

This. Unless you happen to live near an ice cave, you're going to have to get a freezer and temp controller. Freezers can be had pretty cheaply if you're patient and you keep your eye on craigslist. Temp controllers aren't all that expensive, in the grand scheme of things (~$70). I recommend the digital models that can be configured for both heating and cooling.

One other thought: if all that's too much of a problem, there are some great hybrid styles (california common, baltic porter, etc) that are pretty lager-like but don't require super cold fermentations.

 

+1 WLP810 does produce a nice, clean beer at 58-60 degrees...

 

I am not a handy man but I was able to build a Son of Fermentation Chiller (SOFC) to be my lagering chamber. Yes, you do need ice (jugs of water that I freeze/re-freeze in my refrigerator’s freezer) to be the source of cooling. I swap out the jugs every few days. I have an unheated bedroom that I use for my fermentation ‘chamber’. Right now I have a Bohemian Pilsner fermenting and a Classic American Pilsner lagering.

The plans for the SOFC are here:http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AseaX99DTaL01dMWQAwqckybvZx4?fr=yfp-t-546-s&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&p=son of fermentation chiller plans

I made a modified version of the SOFC so that it can accommodate two carboys at the same time.

Cheers!

 

I used to use one of those Igloo Ice Cube coolers (with a hole cut in the lid for a carboy neck to stick through) for both primary fermentation and lagering. It is well insulated so it is pretty much perfect for an ice bath.

I stilll use it for fermentation (not just for lagers, but all beers) but I now do my lagering by just making room for a carboy in my fridge. Anyways, back when I used to lager in that thing, I could keep it at 37F by switching out a few half-gallon ice bottles (I just used old milk or juice containers) a couple times a day. If you are only doing short lagering times, like a month, it is easy enough. I wouldn't want to lager a beer for 4 months doing that, however.

This is the cheapest option you're going to find, unless you happen to have a sweet cave in your backyard.