Lagering at 43 degrees

[cathlabrob]

Hi all,
I’m currently layering an Octoberfest in an empty refrigerator. The instructions call for 50-55 degrees but the warmest my fridge will go is 43 degrees. Once it was actively fermenting, I put the batch in the fridge but now it has either stopped fermenting or has slowed to the point of no active visible bubbling. My ambient home temp is 77 degrees which is too warm and the fridge is about 40. Any advice is appreciated.....should I just leave it in the fridge for additional time or take it out and ferment it at room temp (77) degrees?
I can’t modify the fridge because it will once again be used for foods.
thanks,
Rob

 

[McKnuckle]

The key to dropping temps in lager while preventing the yeast from going dormant is doing it SLOWLY. The recommendation I've seen is no more than 1 degree celsius per day, which is roughly 2 degrees Fahrenheit.

Can you prop open the fridge door and thwart the cooling a bit? Wasteful of energy, yes, but it's a means to an end.

Alternately, the yeast is probably still working, but prepare yourself for a long fermentation, likely around 3-4 weeks nominally.

 

[Dland]

In theory, it will probably eventually ferment that low, but I have had brews stall at temps a little warmer than that. Room temp is too warm for a good lager fermentation.

One option might be to put a Fermwrap or other warming device around fermentation vessel, and insulate. You could then set temp (with inkbird 308 or similar controller) to fermentation temps while still maintaining fridge at food temp.

You probably don't want to let food get to warm as trade off for beer.

 

[McKnuckle]

Actually, I guess we're all a bit daft here (or I'll speak for myself)... To use this fridge, buy an Inkbird temperature controller and use that to keep the fridge temp at whatever setting you like. You can't really use the fridge's built-in thermostatic control - it is optimized for food as you can see.

If you have food in the fridge simultaneously, then that won't work. Most of us don't expect our refrigerators to do double duty, though.

 

[cathlabrob]

Thanks, that would make sense...I never thought about that. I have the fridge set to 44 (max) and wrapped the bucket in a blanket. I’ll check it later in the day and see if it starts bubbling again. If not I’ll take it out and warm it up a bit until it starts bubbling then try again in the fridge wrapped with blanket.

 

[cathlabrob]

The key to dropping temps in lager while preventing the yeast from going dormant is doing it SLOWLY. The recommendation I've seen is no more than 1 degree celsius per day, which is roughly 2 degrees Fahrenheit.

Can you prop open the fridge door and thwart the cooling a bit? Wasteful of energy, yes, but it's a means to an end.

Alternately, the yeast is probably still working, but prepare yourself for a long fermentation, likely around 3-4 weeks nominally.

I turned the fridge off and opened the door and wrapped bucket with a blanket. Once it warms up a little I’ll turn the fridge back on and crack the door open A little. Since I love lagers, I think it will make sense to invest in a dedicated fridge with external temp controller or a small conical with cooling system. Thanks for the reply. I guess I’m gonna have to keep monitoring the temp for the next 10 days.