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It's getting cold in Melbourne. My ales are brewing at the bottom of the scale, about 18 degrees. I'm thinking that maybe I should be brewing with the seasons, and maybe it's time to be doing a lager?

Can I do a lager without having a fridge? I'm thinking that I could leave it in the shed - maybe in a water bath to smooth the temp fluctuations. At the moment the minimum temps are around 5 degrees, maybe 12 or so during the day. Is this too much of a fluctuation (fluck you Europeans too ) to brew a lager. Is there a lager yeast/style that can handle this. Or am I just whistling in the wind to attempt a lager without a fridge?

My last 4 lagers were done in the shed, sitting nicely between 10 and 12.
Very little fluctuation at all.

So Rysa, is there a lager recipe that you can recommend? I quite like the Euro style, well German really, lagers. That crisp refreshing taste. My wife likes DAB so it would be good to keep her on-side. I plan to do the Full Sail Ale next, but I have 3 fermenters. One can be the long term lager project. Barrel No 3 I think will be a Belgian, but no coriander/citrus (I don't like Hoegaarden), more like a Leffe Brun.

So little time - so many beers.

Anyway. Have you got a good lager recipe for a beginner who is at the mercy of the Winter weather?

Also, I love Family Guy. Stewie Griffin- The Untold Story. What a cluster-laugh.

Haven't been brewing all that long myself so not too sure.
Did a Lowenbrau for my last with Carapils in it, had a dry enzyme which i left out but it's up to you if you want it that way. My last experience with a dry enzyme wasn't a good one so i'll be leaving them out from now on.
The link is - http://homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1158

Or i just got a Becks recipe i think has grains in it too using a Malt shovel two row lager but it's on my computer at home.

The Heineken is good too, just basic with a tin (can't remember which right now) kit converter #60 and lager yeast.

Most of the lagers I've done have been light beers in the corona style, 2.5%, not sure if you'd be into that.

However, I'd recommend the Saflager S-23 as it's quite forgiving of higher temps and it does ok if there are fluctuations too, though it's always worth trying to minimise those.

Melbourne weather should be fine atm for a lager, W34/70 is a better yeast than S-23 imho if you can get it.

mobydick wrote: At the moment the minimum temps are around 5 degrees, maybe 12 or so during the day. Is this too much of a fluctuation (fluck you Europeans too ) to brew a lager?

Don't forget that the critical temperature is not the air temperature, but the temperature of the wort in your fermenter. Although the air temperature may go up and down by 10ºC over a 24 hour period, that will not make your fermenter go up and down the same. It takes a lot longer to change your wort temperature. Aim to have your wort at the right temperature when pitching yeast, and you should be fine at this time of the year with a lager at the quoted external temperature range.

I did a lager last winter, before I set up a temp controlled fridge

A Coopers Original Lager, BE2 or simular, a few Cascade hops boiled for 10 mins or so & S-23 yeast.

I just placed the fermenter in an unheated room. I racked & left it in secondary for a few weeks too. Turned out great.

Yesterday I put down my first lager for the season. (Coopers heritage lager with some Tettnanger and some S-23)
It's sitting around 11 degrees today, and should be great soon.

Then I'm doing a Czech Pilsner, then an Oktoberfest before going back to the ales.

After all, Tis the season to make lagers...

Trizza.