Lagering Equipment

From Brewwiki

Using lager yeast is slightly more complicated that using ale yeast. The two biggest factors are time and temperature management. Lagers take longer and work best a certain temperatures. Other than that, brewing lagers is EXACTLY the same a brewing an ale.

Time

Well, not much to say about this. Yup, it takes more time. If you are not a patient person, lagers are not for you. The lagers that I have brewed have taken 10 weeks from start to drinking. Two and a half months. Patience young grasshopper...

Temperature Management

There are several ways to keep the fermenter at the proper temperature. An ice bath or wet towel and fan come to mind. These will do a great job at keeping your lager cold. However, if you are trying to recreate an exact type of lager, like a Dunkel or a XX Amber clone, you may create some different flavors by not being precise about the temperature. These methods will create beer that will taste better than most commercial brews but may not exactly match the beer you are trying to create.

From my studies, the only way to hit your lagering temperatures with the needed accuracy is to use an refrigerator or freezer controlled by an external temperature controller. Two potentially expensive purchases. I was lucky enough to have found a free refrigerator and the temperature controller was $60.

The controller that I purchased was unwired. I had to provide the wall plug and the plug you use to plug in the fridge. Wiring the controller was slightly confusing since the instructions that come with it only have a schematic. But after I wired mine, I found an unlinked page on the zymico.com site that shows you exactly how to wire the controller. Look at the second picture on that page.