I’ve not done a lager kit, so whilst trying to sort the Saddlers Sav, I purchased this kit.  I am playing it by the book, with no additional sugar (apparently some people do this to make the beer more continental.  Or something.)

I did all the usual things but at the end I decided to put the bucket in to the cellar with the arduino temperature control.  After a long chat with a friend, who works with similar controllers, and also reading some threads on the web, I tweaked the settings, nd what a difference it made.  The temperature is now spot on target at all times.  I have arbitrarily selected 20°C.  According to some of my reading, it is a constant temperature that matters with lager, and I am certainly getting that.  The cellar is pretty constant at 16 degrees – despite it being 25°C outside (my office would be way higher than that now given passive solar heating).

The main problem with the arduino is the aesthetics – it is a cardboard box (sound proofing) with wires coming out in all directions.  Not ideal, but I am very happy with the laptop that is powering it – mum and dad’s old mini10 running lubuntu.  The current state of play can be seen on the head up display.