Lagering underwater

[MARMITE]

As previously reported my wine chiller has gone wrong and I've not yet got a replacement. I am half way through a pilsner having primed it and bottled it today.Ideally I could do with keeping it at about 12-13 c for a couple of weeks before I start the lagering process.Anyway I hit on a way to keep the temperature down to reasonable levels. I've put the bottles in a 45 gallon drum cut in half which I used to use to cool down my wort before wort chillers were invented.There's an inlet from the mains and the outlet goes to the drain .Temperature of the water is 16c -not ideal but not bad.I wonder if anyone else has used a similar arrangement and whether other possibilities exist eg perhaps lagering outside underwater during the winter to keep an even temperature.

[prolix]

I like the idea of the water as a thermal mass, the brew itself would also contribute to the thermal mass. 22 gallons is alot and should do the trick unless we get a cold snap

[MARMITE]

Wouldn't mind if we did get a cold snap ,it would drop the temperature down to where I'd like it to be i.e about 12-13 c. I'm also thinking I could resite it according to the time of the year eg out buildings,cool room in the house or even in my fermentation cabinetwith heater and thermostat which is in a lean to type conservatory for want of a better description(my brew room) .As you say the advantage is the thermal stability.