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saint from PA

saint

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I'm new to brewing and still trying to convince the wife that this is a good idea/ hobby! I purchased a Brewers Best German Oktoberfest kit and would appreciate any tips to help this turn out right. When I bought it I asked the brew store owner what the difference between a beginner kit and an intermediate skill level kit was - he told me that there wasn't any difference, just a few more steps are involved with brewing it. It turns out that those "few steps" include lagering, which I am not in anyway prepared for. Does anyone know what will happen if I skip the lagering process? Will the beer turn out ok? I already purchased a 25' stainless steel wort chiller is there anything else that is essential before starting that will make my life easier? Thanks for reading this and any help will be greatly appreciated! I would also like to meet any brewers within SW PA.
 
I'd suggest going back and getting an ale kit of some kind instead of the lager kit. Lagers need to be keptat about 48 tto 50 degrees for a couple of weeks.  Unless you have an empty refrigerator and a temperatureccontroller thatis hard to do .

 
tom_hampton said:
I'd suggest going back and getting an ale kit of some kind instead of the lager kit. Lagers need to be keptat about 48 tto 50 degrees for a couple of weeks.  Unless you have an empty refrigerator and a temperatureccontroller thatis hard to do .

I'll add that both ale and lagers need to be kept at a consistent temperature.  Swinging temps of a few degrees create noticeable artifacts in the final beer.
 
Thanks Tom and Jomebrew for the replies - I tried to take it back but I couldn't because it was opened.  I'm going to try to build a chill box out of insulating foamboard, bottles of ice and using a computer fan to help circulate the air to keep it cool. Hopefully it will work well enough until i can build a lagering fridge with a temperature controller. Has anyone tried this method? Was it successful?
 
Lots of folks do that.  Look up "son of fermentation chiller" over at homebrewtalk.com. 

Another idea: use an ale yeast instead of the lager yeast, such as WLP001, or Safale US-05. 
 
tom_hampton said:
Lots of folks do that.  Look up "son of fermentation chiller" over at homebrewtalk.com. 

Another idea: use an ale yeast instead of the lager yeast, such as WLP001, or Safale US-05.

Found the direct link at http://home.roadrunner.com/~brewbeer/chiller/chiller.PDF
 
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