How cold is too cold?

I think i'm getting some brew equipment, like a burner and some kegging equipment for Christmas. I was wondering if the guys up here in the Northeast where it gets very cold brew outside? I dont just mean in your garage, but outside? Plus, my wife really doesn't like the smell of my brewing. If you do, do you have to do anything different?

I brewed a few weeks ago. It was about 30F. You may want to wind shield your burner ( be careful someone on here melted their propane regulator hose! ).

The challenge can be using your wort chiller when it gets real cold. I dont use my outside hose line, I bring it in and run that from my sink.

I brew outside all the time. SWMBO doesn't care for the smell of beer brewing either, so brewing so I've brewed on the deck even in the depths of winter. Other than keeping the flame out of the wind and requiruing more propane to get/keep the wort boiling, I haven't had any issues. Pretty damn cold sometimes though, so I do tend to brew less in the winter than other times of the year. I try and schedule a brew day when the weather is somewhat cooperative, and I try to avoid being brewing in late january early febuary, it's just too cold and inhospitable outside.

This is how I deal with it. I don't like to have the weather telling me when I can and can't brew.

That's great Brad...Now i have to build something like that...

bradsul said:

This is how I deal with it. I don't like to have the weather telling me when I can and can't brew.

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Brad...we need a step by step direction video please. I was out at 5 degrees last weekend and will soon be looking at colder weather.

Dr Vorlauf said:

I brewed a few weeks ago. It was about 30F. You may want to wind shield your burner ( be careful someone on here melted their propane regulator hose! ).

The challenge can be using your wort chiller when it gets real cold. I dont use my outside hose line, I bring it in and run that from my sink.

Click to expand...

why do you have an issue using your wort chiller in the cold?

Gammon N Beer said:

Brad...we need a step by step direction video please. I was out at 5 degrees last weekend and will soon be looking at colder weather.

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There's not really much too it. I mash in my kitchen (cooler has trouble with really cold weather), carry the mash tun outside to batch sparge (so I don't have to carry around the sparge water).

The shield is pretty simple, put the kettle on the burner, light it, put the shield overtop. When the boil is done I carry the kettle into the kitchen where I whirlpool and drain through my CFC.

mot said:

why do you have an issue using your wort chiller in the cold?

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Because the hose outside is likely to freeze and burst, not because of the chiller itself.