calling all lager brewers !

[the big lebowski]

hi all ,i`ve been making lager from wiko kits for about 18 months with mixed result and have just read the river cottage hand book no 12 "booze" (a very good read in my opinion ,you might want to pop it on your b`day prezzie list) and it mentions in there that after racking into bottles it should be stored at low temps (around 6 degrees) how does every one do this ? its not to much of a prob at the moment but will be in the summer ? i have 750 ml bottles and when i make a batch i get 30 bottles of it so they wont all fit in the fridge with my shopping,any advice welcome,cheers

[Bohobumble]

hi all ,i`ve been making lager from wiko kits for about 18 months with mixed result and have just read the river cottage hand book no 12 "booze" (a very good read in my opinion ,you might want to pop it on your b`day prezzie list) and it mentions in there that after racking into bottles it should be stored at low temps (around 6 degrees) how does every one do this ? its not to much of a prob at the moment but will be in the summer ? i have 750 ml bottles and when i make a batch i get 30 bottles of it so they wont all fit in the fridge with my shopping,any advice welcome,cheers

I don't make lager as yet, I prefer real ale, but I add them to a small fridge from freecycle in batches to help condition them, seems to work OK

If you're lagering I understand the temperature is more critical and the reading I have done online suggests to buy a more accurate thermometer connected between the socket and the plug to the fridge so that temperature is better controlled. There are whole forums on beer making!

[simon12]

My understanding on the lagering process is that traditionally it should be cold conditioned for 6-8 weeks before bottling, commercially its now cold filtered instead to speed it up. Here is a link to a forum post where how brewers are discussing alternative methods Home Brew Forum •
I don't know how deep your knowledge is, apologies if you already no more than me on the subject but its important to note the 3 key differences between a lager and an ale in how its made which are:
1 lager uses a lager malt as the base malt (&/or pilsner or vienna depending on style) while ales tend to use a pale malt.
2 lagers use a lager yeast which should ferment at around 12C while ale yeasts ferment around 18C (there are a huge number of different types of yeast for all styles all with there own preferred temperature range). Many kits use an ale yeast as it works better at room temperature but a true lager yeast produces a cleaner crisper taste.
3 the lagering/cold conditioning also makes it much clearer and crisper.

[the big lebowski]

thanks for the replys guys ,i have been reading up a fair bit on the subject and like i said after a few mixed results on batches im re thinking my approach ,double cleaning everything,taking og and sg and trying to do it to the book as much as pos ,i think a second hand fridge\freezer and some 500ml bottles may be the way forward,your spot on about the yeast and i think this may be where some of the confusion comes from ,the yeast in my wilko kit gets going at around 20 degrees so it cant be proper lager yeast,i`ll have a look on the other home brew sites and see what they recommend,cheers