Got up to camp last night and brought some stuff to brew. Working off solar and generator. I have deep well water kind of mineraly but otherwise tastes good. I didn’t bring my pH tester so that’s a question. See how the mash goes. My chiller doesn’t fit in the 8gallon pot I’m using so going to chill with ice and well water. The water comes up at 45deg so that’s not a problem. Cellar is 52deg right now so I brought Lager yeast. Going to do BIAB I’ll start boiling with 5gallons and then top up with cold water to keep foam over to a minimum and help cool the wort. I’ll add the cold top off water then start the WP. I’m not going to Lager this much before I started drinking but I’ll keep it in the cellar and drink a little bit every time I come up. It will keep getting better I’m sure. Black flies are fierce today I’ll screen them out when I dump the wort into the bucket.
Now I know why @sneezles61 likes to brew indoors. It’s not the cold it’s the black flies. I thought the breeze would help but that just blew some pine needles in the mash. Really hard to pour stir and wave with only 2 arms.
The water must be similar to home because I used my normal parameters and got the exact same OG. We will see how it tastes. Normally I ferment my Lager around 49. It’s 54 in the cellar now if it gets into the upper 50s I’ll just call it a California Common. It’s basically my pale ale with lager yeast.
And the Pines are releasing their dust (pollen) which may enhance yer brew? Sneezles61
Pines haven’t started dumping spores yet but I can see that being a problem when they do, it can get pretty thick
We have that yellow dust everywhere… Some times, it gets so thick you’ll get a pounding head ache for a few hours…
We basically went from snow storms to heat wave… Spring lasted about a week here… Mid 80’s isn’t nice to work in… Sneezles61
You can keep it . Hasn’t got that hot yet maybe it’s heading this way. Breezy up here mid 60s. I hope the wind calms down my grandson is coming tomorrow want to get on the lake with him. Grooming him to be my fishing buddy since his father is to busy .
He could also be yer brew assistant too? He wouldn’t need to imbibe… unless…
A Blonde lager? I like your idea of keeping it cellared… Would you put it in the keg, just before terminal gravity… Cask conditioned? Sneezles61
Ok here’s an update for anyone who cares. Finally got back to camp 29 days later to check the beer. It’s still slowly perking. Doubt it got above 50 deg the whole Time. Actually it was 33 outside Thursday night. Anyway I needed to rack it so I did. Still at .020 so I’m sure it will keep going while in the keg. I added an oz of sugar and purged the keg with a paint ball shooter thingy. I hope it’s conditioned when I get here for July 4th. I left it in the bathroom which gets the most sun , hope it’s warm enough. The good news is no more black flies I think the mosquitoes ran them off.
I’m still curious of your sample… How did it taste? Then, your next sample should be drier… I see the 4th isn’t too far off now… I lose track of time during the busyness of summer(warm weather)… Sneezles61
The sample was nice no sweetness detected. It was supposed to be dry hopped in the fermenter for a week. I was going to add them to the keg but forgot to bring some. Not sure if I want to open the keg after it’s carbed since I don’t have tank to replace the carbonation. I’m hoping it carbonated with the few points left and the little bit of sugar. I do have the paint ball cartridge to shoot in some co2. Better bring some spares
I have a notion to do more of the cask conditioned ales… I know yours is a lager, yet I will believe the same can happen with an ale… The ferment to to be controlled/happen, then get it off its lees, not a secondary as its typically known, rather package, then age… cold as you can… If its 50*, well, it may take a bit longer… 32*… it’ll come around sooner… I’m getting a process that that I believe you wouldn’t be able to discern an ale to a lager… Sneezles61
Well I’ll give an update. Got to camp and iced the beer gave it some bursts of co2 from the minni but the beer was still flat tasted good but flat. I suspect as it absorbed the co2 it lost the seal. So I brought it home and sealed it up with co2 from my tank and stuck it in the kegorator and went away again. Alas when I got home still flat. Never turned the gas on. Now finally it’s on gas. Good thing it’s a lager😅
Gee Whiz Brew_Cat… all this anticipation… 
I’ll try be patient… Sneezles61
Add Drum roll
… well? 
Sneezles61
(Drum roll)
Well I tasted it today and I’m pleased. Still only a week on gas so the carbonation isn’t completely absorbed so it disipated quickly but lasted long enough to get an idea. Of course it’s still cloudy and the pull had some yeast bite but another week or two should clean that up. I wasn’t concerned about the water. The well is deep and I’m on an eskar so its all glacial till and it tastes very good like you would expect mountain water to taste. After all the Adirondacks are known for their water. I would like to make this a yearly event , sneak one more lager in after it gets to warm down state. Going to need to figure out how to carb it. Probably bring my spare tank up and leave it here. Maybe get another
Get another. Can never have too many CO2 tanks.
And a regulator. I’d get another setup but chilling on a problem. Off grid can’t run a fridge. Thinking of building a passive refrigerator any ideas. I’m thinking using a 12" flue tile
