f@#k its hot

So I just moved to Texas from michigan not only do I know nothing about the beer scene here. IT'S TO FREAKING HOT TO BREW!!!!!!!!! What are some of the thing ya'll do to beat the heat? Alos what breweries should I be drinking in the DFTW area

Welcome to the South! Yep, it's unbelievably hot. As far as breweries in DFW...

Deep Ellum makes a great IPA and some decent session beers like their Blonde & Rye Pils. They also open up the brewery for 3 hours on Saturdays. Food trucks show up, & you pay $10 for a pint glass & 3 pints. Good deal and a good time. They usually have a band. It's right in downtown Dallas.

Rahr in Fort Worth makes ok beers, nothing that notable.

St. Arnold in Houston also has some good brews.

Craft beer scene in Dallas area is just getting going. I expect we will see more good breweries popping up in the next few years. Hopefully ones like Deep Ellum will also be able to get into making some really good beers once they get their name established with the lighter stuff.

Yup. It's hot! I had to put misters up on my porch for brew days and even then it gets too hot! So ill do an extract inside in the ac.

Some good beers besides Rhar and Deep Ellum are Lakewood, they have a pretty good IPA. Real Ale but that's in Austin, same goes for 512. Velvet Hammer from Peticolas is good. Ask your bartender or if there's a good beer store they can offer some suggestions.

Sweat into the wort, it adds salt.

I can only cool to about 90' outdoors and then I have to bring the fermenter inside to an ice bath. Other than that, count your blessings; the mash tun stays hot and the kettle gets up to boil a lot faster. Think of what you will save on propane living in the south!

Deep Ellum IPA is great. All that I have had from peticolas is great. Been to Lakewood brewing, which was good. I live in the Austin area, and my favorite beers come out of Hops and Grain in Austin. They have some stuff in better grocery stores in the DFW area, look for Alteration and The One They Call Zoe and Pale dog. Great stuff. Welcome to Texas!

Yep. All those and Four Corners and Jester King. You'll find Shiner Bock near everywhere. I think it's a law. Their Ruby Red and Prickly Pear are seasonal and fantastic.

The heat gets its worst from about noon till the sun goes down. 2pm on can be brutal. And hey, it's been cool this summer.

Pre chill your wort chiller hose through a washtub of ice water.

Welcome buddy saint Arnold's makes some of my favorites beers. There is also a company called leprechaun that makes some really good cider. And the great thing about Texas in winter it only gets down to like sixty

If you're in the Dallas area hit up some local brew gardens like Good Friends(White Rock area(amazing burgers too)) or Flying Saucer(everywhere). While not usually featuring a diverse tap selection Stans on Lower Greenville does specials on Texas brews on Tuesdays...I think. If you want to take some stuff home in growlers check out Craft & Growler near Fair Park or any Whole Foods. Welcome to Texas.

Until recently, I've brewed in my kitchen but I outgrew it and have been brewing outside. In the metro New Orleans area, we not only have heat and high humidity but mosquitoes big enough to carry you away. It's been a good year so far for the skeeters so I hope that stays.

I have a big, box fan I put near me and I brew under a patio cover but there is no breeze and the heat from the burner makes it worse. I drink plenty of water and stay away from too much beer until cleanup time. Then it's catch-up time.

You'll miss us (michigan) ive had 3 friends move there.. Then back and all my friends that where stationed their pretty much hated it too.. But u would probably love the music.. Some the biggest shows run through the austin area so enjoy! In the the meantime u will prolly miss 65* ground water even in the peak of summer! And founders.. And bells.. And any of the other 140+ breweries! Let me know if u want a care package .. I only live a mile from founders

Lots of Michiganders down here. If you're a Spartan, we've got a really good alumni club in DFW. If you're a Wolverine, well, you can piss off You'll get used to the heat eventually.

My personal opinion is that Peticolas is the best brewery in DFW, followed by Community, Lakewood, and Deep Ellum.

amfukuda said:

Welcome buddy saint Arnold's makes some of my favorites beers. There is also a company called leprechaun that makes some really good cider. And the great thing about Texas in winter it only gets down to like sixty

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Except when it's 20 something and you have to chisel your truck from a block of ice to leave work. Or when it does that ice then snow thing so it looks okay until you realize you're driving on a hockey rink. But that's okay. It'll be 80 the next day.

I don't know where your at but here it has only snowed and only iced over once in my life a normal winter is forty at its worse but still hits seventy at noon

What? I'm in Galveston. The whole gulf freezes solid every year.

Nah. DFW. It's snowed every year for the last 8 years we've lived here. Not much, but it does. And I drove around with icicles on the truck at least twice last winter.

This has been a pretty nice summer. Who said it's hot?

paithian said:

So I just moved to Texas from michigan not only do I know nothing about the beer scene here. IT'S TO FREAKING HOT TO BREW!!!!!!!!! What are some of the thing ya'll do to beat the heat? Alos what breweries should I be drinking in the DFTW area

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Mostly we brew heavy in the fall winter and spring. enjoy inside during the hot months. The first year is the worst for the heat. A couple of months.

Not sure where you live but, I have not shoveled any partly cloudy from my driveway since I moved here. The pan handle gets lots of snow, DFW will get a month or so of sleet. Going further south get more heat / humid in the summer and less cold in the winter.

Learn to love Saisons.

Works for me.

amfukuda said:

I don't know where your at but here it has only snowed and only iced over once in my life a normal winter is forty at its worse but still hits seventy at noon

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Not last winter, but the winter before (2010), the first week of February it was COLD and icy. I mean, like it iced up our deck and porch and there was no school for three days.

It was 45 degrees INside the house (no furnace), and in the 20s outside. But after about three days of that, it was back in the 70s. The fun thing I did was walk around the neighborhhood and watch people's pipes burst and their houses flood. Ok, that wasn't fun- but I found the water department guys on a Saturday and they went around and shut the water off of people that weren't around or where they saw water spilling out. One house had water cascading all over the house, and down the stairs, due to a water break. That area is mostly "summer homes" or non-resident homes and it was a real mess.

That was a quite a bit south of Dallas, on the Gulf Coast near Corpus Christi.

Last year, there were a couple of nights below freezing but nothing too harsh.

(We spend a couple of months each winter in S. Texas).