It's cold outside and I want to brew!

If I brew in a garage am I OK with a foot of the garage door open?

Yep, by a co monitor if you wanna play it safe. But yea done plenty of brews that way and didn't die

I actually like brewing in the cold. I live in the desert southwest, so by cold I mean maybe 32F. Much colder than that, and I probably wouldn't want to. I would think you are fine with the garage door slightly open.

^^^Agree you should be fine, as long as the wind is not blowing directly in. You might open the garage door all the way a couple times while brewing just to bring in a rush of fresh air.

Cool, thanks. More than likely I'll just set up out my door and watch through the window, but if it's too windy I'll be considering the garage.

Word to the wise; if you use an outdoor garden hose for your IC or plate choler, bring it inside and thaw it before you get too far

I brewed today and I started when it was 27F and it rose to 37F. It dropped back down to 30F by the time I was done with the second batch. It wasn't bad. Kept drinking, moved a lot and made supper. As a so cal defect I have to say I did well. A beanie and a hoodie was all it took. Oh and beer. Good luck to you.

I've been brewing in my basement for 9 years now. Still here to brag about it.

I'm sure you will be fine in your garage.

processhead said:

I've been brewing in my basement for 9 years now. Still here to brag about it.

I'm sure you will be fine in your garage.

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Reckon so.

processhead said:

I've been brewing in my basement for 9 years now. Still here to brag about it.

I'm sure you will be fine in your garage.

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Interesting. What sort of ventilation have you got going on when you do this?

I brewed on a 20 degree day. All grain, in the cold for hours. The proprane space heater was a good friend that day. Something manly about that.

I wouldn't want to give everyone a blanket pass that brewing indoors with a burner is ok.
In my situation, I had a burner that burned cleanly without producing much CO. I also had some natural air flow that kept the brewing area vented.
It is advisable to look at all the hazards associated with brewing and proceed with caution.

I wouldn't have any concerns over a burner in a garage with the overhead door cracked 12 inches.

-4 F here and I'm starting to crush grains. Will boil outside. This what I'll need to do to keep a supply of Homebrew over the winter in the Adirondack Mountains.

Brewskii said:

Word to the wise; if you use an outdoor garden hose for your IC or plate choler, bring it inside and thaw it before you get too far

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In addition to the hose, take the March pump inside when not in use. I've also taken to putting all the smaller hoses with quick releases in a plastic bag, and then putting the plastic bag in the mash tun with the hot spent grain. That keeps the QRs from freezing.

Took me quite a while to get the hose bib thawed and running yesterday. I brought the hose into the heated garage to thaw out and had to use a propane torch to carefully thaw out the bib. It took much more heat and time than I anticipated. I was being cautious to hold the flame a decent distance so I wouldn't spot heat it and possibly damage the seals. Worked out in the end.

On the plus side, I barely had a trickle of cooling water going through the counterflow during cooling!

I've brewed a few times in my garage with the overhead door open a foot or two. Never had a problem with it. I even bring one of the CO detectors out there and the thing never reads higher than a few ppm (well within the 50ppm, 8-hour exposure limit).

Only drawback for me is that we have shut off the water running to the outside hose bibs for the winter. I'll have to go back to hauling the hot BK inside to run the IC.

steveoc said:

-4 F here and I'm starting to crush grains. Will boil outside. This what I'll need to do to keep a supply of Homebrew over the winter in the Adirondack Mountains.

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I'm looking at temps like these as well.

I think wind is probably my biggest concern. If the wind is slow I should be good to go. No sense in carrying 90lbs an extra 40 ft to the garage

MaxStout said:

I've brewed a few times in my garage with the overhead door open a foot or two. Never had a problem with it. I even bring one of the CO detectors out there and the thing never reads higher than a few ppm (well within the 50ppm, 8-hour exposure limit).

Only drawback for me is that we have shut off the water running to the outside hose bibs for the winter. I'll have to go back to hauling the hot BK inside to run the IC.

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Or, take a Homer bucket, drill a hole and attach a bulkhead and valve like you do with a cooler, fill the bucket with snow and some water, and run that through the IC using a pump. Or even fill the HLT with clean ice and water and use that.

-22c here so i won't be brewing outdoors today!!

JDGator said:

-22c here so i won't be brewing outdoors today!!

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That's about -8 F. Couldn't let that stop me or I'd have to start buying beer. It's almost 10 F now & I'm 15 minutes into boil. Little over an hour or so I'll back in front the wood stove.

steveoc said:

That's about -8 F. Couldn't let that stop me or I'd have to start buying beer. It's almost 10 F now & I'm 15 minutes into boil. Little over an hour or so I'll back in front the wood stove.

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oh i'll be outside all weekend. trapping season here and the last few weeks of archery for whitetail.

just don't like running the garden hose out and having gear freeze up. i brewed tons this fall so i'm stocked up like a squirrel!!

Good luck with your brew!!

Its about 14 F out here, and I'm thinking of brewing tomorrow, or maybe Sunday. I don't have a burner, but did get a brew kettle for Christmas. The kettle is too big for the stove, so my wife agreed to getting the burner. So, I'll get that today. Is there any certain concern for using one in the garage over the winter?
I plan on using it on the deck in the yard in the summer.

Phffft! I brewed on Wednesday and it was -4° F (-20° C). I did exactly what you're describing, running my burner in my garage with the door OPEN. Those fumes need to be able to escape.

That said, there are several issues to be aware of when brewing when it's that cold. Keep much of your equipment indoors until you need it. Specifically, if you use an electronic scale to weigh your hops, the battery will freeze and the scale will not work, so keep it warm until you need it. Your hoses will be much more stiff and rigid as they cool down, so keep them inside until it's time to set up your chiller. If you use a garden hose, bring it inside the night before so that any ice inside of it will have time to melt by brew day. I even keep my pumps and chiller inside, in case there is any water/ice inside of them that will prevent me from getting a flow started at a crucial point in brewing.

Valves may clog with ice. For example, I have a little bucket with a ball valve on it that I use to prime my lines before starting my pump. When I brewed on Wednesday, the valve was clogged with ice. I had to poke it with the temperature probe of my turkey fryer's thermometer to clear it. A little water got spilled, and buckets froze to the floor. Your hands will get cold, so keep them dry and wear gloves for as much of the process as possible.

On the bright side, get ready for the fastest post-boil wort chilling of your life.

brew in the winter all the time. I use the snow outside as a nice coolant when I'm cooling down my wort. works very well

steveoc said:

-4 F here and I'm starting to crush grains. Will boil outside. This what I'll need to do to keep a supply of Homebrew over the winter in the Adirondack Mountains.

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Brewed my first AG yesterday in 14 degree temps outside. Had to swap propane tanks midway through the boil cause the first one was all frosty and not pumping out enough gas. All things considered I did pretty well. Hit my OG of 1050 and its bubbling away as we speak.