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Old 01-06-2009, 01:30 PM   #1
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Default Stupid cold weather....

Brewed a doppelbock this Saturday and since I wasn't doing a decoction mash I decided to do a 2 hour boil. It was 55° out when I started, but by the time the sparge was done and boil started, it had dropped to 25° with a wind-chill of 14°. Long story short, I ended up with a little over 1 gallon more than I had planned for: I planned to end up with 6 gallons of 1.084, but got 7 gallons of 1.074 instead.

I resisted my urges to mess with anything, did some math the next morning and it's nowhere near as bad as I thought....1.074 is still within style guidelines, and the BU:GU is only 0.034 higher than planned.

Guess I'll start checking out the 10 hour forecast from now on and start adjusting my boil-off rate accordingly....it just sucks to spend 7+ hours freezing your butt off and get subpar results....especially since I plan to age this beer 8 months to a year before drinking it. On the upside I have an extra gallon of it to drink, assuming it turns out well


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Old 01-06-2009, 06:12 PM   #2
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Ahoy hoy,
if it makes you feel any better, its been -50 (thats 50 below folks) at my place for the last 4 days. Might break this weekend.
The price I pay to live on the last frontier
A Great day to all.
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Old 01-06-2009, 07:42 PM   #3
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Why would you NOT check out the forecast if you are going to spend 7+ hours outside.

Don't blame the weather :-)
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Old 01-06-2009, 08:10 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Grinder12000 View Post
Why would you NOT check out the forecast if you are going to spend 7+ hours outside.

Don't blame the weather :-)
ha--I had only checked the weather on my phone which said 55° and sunny , didn't show anything for that night (it's a really basic "weather program").....now I have the weather channel application on my phone
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Old 01-06-2009, 08:17 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Medo View Post
Ahoy hoy,
if it makes you feel any better, its been -50 (thats 50 below folks) at my place for the last 4 days. Might break this weekend.
The price I pay to live on the last frontier
A Great day to all.
Now that, my friend is cold, I will never say its too cold to brew in NC ever again
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Old 01-06-2009, 08:21 PM   #6
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-16* and clear sky here right now

I think it was about 15 above 3-4 weeks ago when I brewed my last batch. It took a bit longer to boil and I was a bit low on my sparge temp. shiatty efficiency, lost more volume than anticipated due to boiling and had to add water at the end, but the brew came out great! I did a lager and set them in the garage right beside the door and had a perfect lagering temperature which was one big plus to the cold weather.
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Old 01-06-2009, 08:51 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Medo View Post
Ahoy hoy,
if it makes you feel any better, its been -50 (thats 50 below folks) at my place for the last 4 days. Might break this weekend.
The price I pay to live on the last frontier
A Great day to all.
Wow, I don't know how you handle that.....I was outside with a windchill of -20° here a few weeks ago and I thought I was going to die.
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Old 01-06-2009, 09:00 PM   #8
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We've been blessed by weather in the 40s the past few weekends...to warm for skiing, but great for brewing. I love the winter because it makes my basement right about 60-and the 'cold corner' about 55. Got a Schwarzbier with wyeast 1007 going right now...hoping for something lagerish.
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Old 01-06-2009, 10:50 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Medo View Post
Ahoy hoy,
if it makes you feel any better, its been -50 (thats 50 below folks) at my place for the last 4 days. Might break this weekend.
The price I pay to live on the last frontier
A Great day to all.
WOW And i was bitching saturday night when i brewed that it was 37 here in Vegas...lol Teach me to whine
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Old 01-06-2009, 11:03 PM   #10
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Default Can't wait to brew in temps over 32 once.

I am a noob and have only brewed two batches so far but the warmest weather I have had is 25 F.

On the bright side, I learned how to steam loose all of the drywall tape in my garage. It is as simple as boiling 5 gallons of wort for 1 hour with too little ventilation. When give the choice of good ventilation or a warm garage, I chose the sauna. The real problem is I have still not tasted the final product of this labor I am performing. It had better be worth it.


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