Winter Brewing Outdoors

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ArcLight

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Today was the first time I've brewed outdoors in cold and windy weather.
I brewed next to the house, in a slightly protected area between 2 hoses, and screened by a fence and a car. (the car was several feet away)

1. I have a Blichmann burner, but the wind gusted so hard at one point it blew the flame out. Another time it almost blew it out. Other than brewing in the garage, any ideas to prevent this?

2. It was cold (Duh) so it seemed to take longer to reach temperature, and to maintain boiling. Do you just crank up the heat (and use more fuel)?

3. Wind kind of sucks because it can knock things down, and blow them away.

4. I do like how easy it is to cool the wort. I was using a 50' immersion chiller, and it cooled the wort down pretty fast.


Do you cut back on your brewing during the winter?
Or instead brew in the garage?

Any general hints or suggestions for winter time brewing?
 
Interested in people's thoughts/tricks on this subject. For my first cold weather brew, I had a much more drastic evaporation rate during my boil. Had to add 1-1.5 gallons of water to the carboy when I was done.
 
I also had my first outdoor cold weather brew today (15 F without the wind chill). The one lesson I'd add is: Take your March pump inside when you're not using it, or keep SWMBO's hair dryer handy. Water in the pump will freeze and seize the whole thing up.

EDIT: Yeah, I had to add about a quart of water to the fermenter too.
 
I do 90% of my brewing between Sept & April but being in northwest Ohio, where it is always breezy, I have to set up an elaborate system of wind screens to try to stabilize the burner, boil, etc. For this, I use my gas grill with the cover on and around six to eight patio chairs. This does a decent job of protecting the burner from blowing out but it does nothing as far as keeping the evaporation rate lower. I just try to account for it by collecting a bit more from the mash. Im not sure if partially covering your kettle with a lid would help with this. Im sure you dont want to completely cover it.

To be honest, I just have to play it by ear and brew in the garage on days that it is too windy. I do this with the overhead door cracked just enough to keep the beagles from escaping and the back door either propped open or at least having the window opened. Ive found that on days when its too windy to brew outside I get a good stream of fresh air moving through the garage this way so exhaust isnt a concern for me. I still have the convenience of backyard/garden hose clean up this way.
 
No reason not to brew in garage if you can, might not keep the cold out with the door open but at least you'll avoid the wind issues.
 
The last two brews I did in the garage. I close the door during mashing, so I don't lose heat from the kettle to the cold. The door goes up anytime I fire up the burner.
 
I live in South Texas so the only difference between brewing in winter or summer is wearing pants and shoes or wearing shorts and sandals. Yesterday, I brewed and it was a "cold" day for here. I actually wore a light jacket (of course I had to leave it unzipped and the sleeves rolled up to keep from sweating). I really miss truly cold winters (like we had when we lived in Montana, Idaho and Colorado). I ferment in my garage now that temperatures have lowered, but still have to use frozen milk jugs in a water bath to keep the temps on them low enough even for ales.
 
I boil outside, but heat water on the stove and keep the mash tun in the kitchen when it's cold. For wind, I've got my boil kettle in a horse trough the bottom rusted out of. Kept it thinking it would make a 'rustic' flower bed, but it works great as a windblock for my bayou burner.
 
I boil outside, but heat water on the stove and keep the mash tun in the kitchen when it's cold. .

This. I think that, if I put the mash on in the kitchen and then go outside to set up all the other equipment, it should shave some time off of the brewday.
 
I don't think you know what cold is. I brew year round and all outside. i will be brewing Christmas day and it will be -6F outside. i have a burner but i cut a metal garbage can in half and took the bottom off. Placed hinges on it and it works as a great wind break and it directs most of the heat upwards. wraps right around the burner. i don't want steam in my garage without proper ventilation. moisture can rust some of my tools.

Best of luck
 
Yeah, I will be brewing up a batch tomorrow. I am in the same boat as cluck, tomorrow it will just be a t-shirt and jeans for the White House Honey Ale. Do like living in Texas for that reason, brewing year round without any problems. We might have a month and a half of cool weather here, but nothing like Hockeyhunter99 has. So brewing outside is not a problem here!:D
 
I love winter brewing. I have a hot water tub for my propane tank and a pond pump for my plate chiller. My water garden provides lots of ice to put in the bucket I pump my chill water from. Add a little salt and I'm down to pitching temps in just a couple of minutes.

I have a patio that's under part of my house just off the basement, so it blocks a lot of wind and keeps some of the heat from the burners in.
 
When it comes to dealing with wind, I've found heavy duty aluminum foil to be incredibly helpful. I regularly wrap foil around the legs of my turkey fryer burner, like a skirt. It keeps the wind at bay and heats up my water/wort much faster.
 
When it's windy I'll try to make an area on the deck as protected as possible. Tip over the picnic table and use it as a wind block.

I like the foil technique Pug, I'll have to try that.
 
I am planning a brew session this coming Saturday and it's looking to be cold with possible snow. I am not excited, but I really need to brew to keep my pipeline going. Otherwise, I might have nothing to drink in about 2 months... I will tough it out. Luckily I have a garage. And, thanks to my tendency to plan ahead, after this I'll have enough beer conditioning so I won't need to brew again til early March.
 
I got tired of brewing outside so I built a ventilation system in my cellar. I have a small 10x10 room with 2 windows. I have an exhaust fan in one and a outside air intake in the other. My deep sink is in the room and an old corner shower. I cut the shower wall down and made it the stand for my three tier system. I converted the showerhead to a spray hose connection for cleaning. I installed an overhead rail system and block and tackle to lift heavy carboys and kegs. In the winter that room is perfect for fermenting staying at a temperature between 62 and 66 degrees. I can brew in my shorts, listen to metal, and drink a homebrew.
 
that might be why mine took so long, it wasnt windy, but my first time boiling 6 gallons was today outside snow on ground and 30 degrees. it took 70 minutes to hit a boil. this was on a 21,000 btu outdoor cooker. cant wait to try it when the weather hits 70 in march or april. I really cant see it taking much of a shorter time, but who knows.
 
1 Some people build a windscreen out of plywood or steel. It depends on how close you want to get to the burner and how sophistocated you want to get. Garages are three-walled wind screens.
2 I have to crank up the gas a little and probably get to back it down in the summer when it's 95F. I't just part of the game.
3
4 This really cuts down on water/ice use. At least winter has a few advantages. Lagers in the basement too!
 
I do just about all of my brewing in the cooler to cold months (Sept-May) and all outdoors. I try to pick a nice day when brewing in the dead of winter. Like in the 15-30 degree range. Brewing outside in the winter rocks! Just have to wrap a blanket around my cooler tun and sip some tasty whiskey to give the illusion of warmth. :rockin:
 
If you use any LME, soak the bottle in warm water inside until you're ready to use it. Cold LMR doesn't pour.
 
It complicates the process here in MN. I'm just not that hardy anymore so I'm working on my electric build in the basement. In the meantime, it's the kitchen and stove for winter brewing. The gas range isn't really up to 7.5 gallon boils though. It is a pretty tiresome process
 
i only brew outside, typically just inside the garage with the door open.. i haven't had too many windy times, i tried using some screens around my sq-14s, though they always seemed to do more harm than good so i don't use anything on them now.. winter doesn't bother me all that much, just have to go inside from time to time depending on how cold the day is
 
both batches we've brewed this winter have been done outside while its snowing, and i'm hoping for the same this weekend when we brew our next one. fresh snow in the wort adds a little something :D
 
I always brew in the garage. In winter I leave about 2ft open on the bottom of the garage door. Never had any issues with gas build up. In fact I usually fire up a patio heater too in the garage to keep it nice and toasty warm.
 
Planning on brewing this Sunday. Expected temp is 30F with a northwest wind at 17mph.
From all I read on this thread it looks like there is no reason to cancel! Of course I don't think I can smoke up ribs at the same time....
 
Mix some of that whiskey with a little hot wort for an extra tasty warmup.

Whitetail, Glennlivet, or Revelstoke. all good brewing companions this winter so far. just brewed today, temp said 9F, worked in the garage with a bottle of Revelstoke to keep me warm. shoveled snow until it started snowing again. i love brewing and i don't care the temp. if it is too cold or too hot i won't brew but that is a matter of opinion.
 
Mix some of that whiskey with a little hot wort for an extra tasty warmup.

I may have to do that for my next brew. I brewed a German Alt yesterday and got a bit chilled as the night closed in. This would also give me an excuse to do a bourbon brew.


I also need to get one of those heater belts for my buckets this winter for my ales.
 
Equal parts of whiskey and wort. I did that with wort from a 1.100+ barleywine and it was a little glass of heaven. :ban:
 
Successful brew day. It wasn't too bad temp wise but the wind was tough. Used a burner with no legs and setup a wind break with some ply. No problem getting water temps up or maintaining temps. Had a fire pit for the guys helping out. Once the sun went down and we were cleaning up - now that was a different story!
 
Winter brewing here only lasts a few months (if we're lucky) but it sure beats the 90* and 90% humidity we get the other 9 months. Brewed yesterday with a high of 62* and was thrilled that my immersion chiller got my wort below 80* in a half an hour.
 
from our brew day yesterday, cold but worth it! sorry for the size of the picture..

winterbrew.JPG
 
We brew all of our batches outside in Beijing and our last batch during the first week of December was the coldest by far. It was below zero and we had trouble getting the water to flow through the wort chiller! Mash temps were a bit all over the place, but at least the wort chilled down quickly! Thankfully we had strong homebrew and a firepit to keep us warm!
 
I live in Jackson, WY so winters get COLD with a capital FREEZING. While the short wort chill time is nice frostbite is not. I actually cut back to brewing with extract in the winter for comfort and health. Only a few hours and can do the entire rundown indoors. Nice and warm!
 

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