steeping grains in the snow...

well, not really IN the snow... kidding.

after extensive brewing in southern california i am now doing my brewing in massachusetts. i know, i know, why did i move

anyhow, i have previously, for 5 gallon batches, usually used a boil volume of about 3.5 gallons as this is about as much as i could get to a rolling boil on the stove. so i would normally bag up my steeping grains, flame out around 170, then let them steep for 20-30 minutes and then yada yada...

i am now forced to brew outside, in the snow. the good news is that i now will be brewing with my awesome new burner and converted keg, in which i would like to use a boil volume of close to the final 5 gallons.

so here is my question: being outside in the 5 degree temperature, it seems like this initial 5 gallons of steeping water is going to get cold really quickly and most likely have an adverse effect on the grains. but maybe i'm wrong... so should i instead just go with my traditional 3.5 gallons and grains in the house and then transfer the water to the keg and top off? or would i be ok just doing the entire process, with 5 gallons, outside?

thanks for the help guys and gals.

erik

Describe your "equipment", that would be helpful.

Whoa, never mind ! Seeing you are from SoCal you might take that the wrong way.

Your "equipment" needs to be described as in the stuff you use to brew with, like brew kettles and MLT's and such.

Whew, Close call, but we can help. And pardon my moment of high school humor.

Just keep the water around 170. At 5 degrees outside you probably won't be turning off the fire to keep it there though. Just turn it down to maintain temp.

Edit: I'm assuming this is extract brewing.

indeed all, it is extract. and i like the 'equipment' quip! nice! you know how we do it in cali...

i'm just using a converted keg as my brew vessel on what i believe is a bayou classic sp-14 burner. nothing fancy; wort is just going to get dumped into the 6.5 gal. carboid for primary and probably will not do a secondary.

Welcome to MA...you could not pay me to move to Cali (I just heard a Tool Aenima reference in my head)!

If you bump up to a full 5G boil (or the 6.5 you just snuck in after my post), you will have a lot of Mass (ha, pun intended) and the temp should stay pretty close to 170* for steeping over only 20 to 30 minutes, especially if you keep the keggle lid on and toss a sleeping bag or something else over it.

You might have to light the burner once to keep the temp up but it should not be that big of a deal (make sure you pull the sleeping bag before firing up)!

I brewed two batches just inside the garage with the doors open last week...it's not so bad, but being from Cali, you'll need some time to acclimate! Ha!

yes, well had wife and job not dragged me here then... %$*#@ massachusetts! thanks for all of your input.

Welcome i guess ur now a masshole! Ive found that a wind screen (a 16 inch pice of sheet metal arond the burner)saved me a s##t load of propane.

sorry, but on a somewhat unrelated note to brewing in mass: i live in beverly and didn't even think to get a water quality report from the city. any of you mass brewers run into any issues where you needed to apply additives etc.? this hasn't been an issue where i used to brew but here not so sure.

thanks again!

I brewed the other night in 20f and it can get cold quick. I used a similar setup and you want to make sure you keep some heat on it. I steeped between 155-165 for 25 min with some flame on.
I did a 3.5 gl boil so hopefully it was OK.
good luck

thanks all. i will now go samply some of my first mass batch. the hopes are not high...

I brew outside and I'm in Maine, if you bring 5 gallons up to temperature it will stay hot for a shocking amount of time even in single digit temps. For instance if you try to cool the wort by sticking the kettle in a snow bank it will still take over an hour to get the temps down if there isn't a lot of wind.

I cooled my 2ish gallons of wort in the snow last week (at below 0 C) and it took more than an hour to bring it down to pitching temperature. I say keep the burner on low to maintain temperature.

My aluminum kettle keeps 5gal steady for 30min at steeping temps outside with the burner off...

So well that it kinda makes me wonder why all grain brewers bother with a cooler to mash in....

Boondoggie said:

My aluminum kettle keeps 5gal steady for 30min at steeping temps outside with the burner off...

So well that it kinda makes me wonder why all grain brewers bother with a cooler to mash in....

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Slightest change in temp can effect what the beer tastes like significantly when mashing rather than working with extracted sugars. Maintaining temp for it is huge. Steeping for added flavor to extract brews not so much. When you're steeping you aren't adding much to gravity, abv and your chemistry and temps don't matter nearly as much.

fermentedhiker said:

I brew outside and I'm in Maine, if you bring 5 gallons up to temperature it will stay hot for a shocking amount of time even in single digit temps. For instance if you try to cool the wort by sticking the kettle in a snow bank it will still take over an hour to get the temps down if there isn't a lot of wind.

Click to expand...

Scottatron said:

I cooled my 2ish gallons of wort in the snow last week (at below 0 C) and it took more than an hour to bring it down to pitching temperature. I say keep the burner on low to maintain temperature.

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Snow only insulates your kettle...not great for cooling (you both make the point)! Plenty of posts about that. He, he.

etoews said:

sorry, but on a somewhat unrelated note to brewing in mass: i live in beverly and didn't even think to get a water quality report from the city. any of you mass brewers run into any issues where you needed to apply additives etc.? this hasn't been an issue where i used to brew but here not so sure.

thanks again!

Click to expand...

You can likely get a water report on line from the city website...I believe towns/cities are required to publish by law.

I can't speak for Beverly water...I use bottled spring water out of habit and add Burton Salts, etc. when I do IPAs for instance. Other than that, straight spring water.

Edit: I Googled and think you get your water from Salem...this was on their site...

http://www.salem.com/Pages/SalemMA_Water/2009waterqualreport.pdf

You moved from SoCal to get away from hippies and earthquakes, j/k. Maintaining temp isn't as important when just steeping anyway although fluctuations make for funny note taking. I do my brewing in my garage and just sit next to the burner kicking it on and off as needed. I usually pick a 5 degree range and let it fluctuate in that range, but I'm still kinda new myself, just finished my 13th batch, just thought I'd throw my two cents in.

Hey etoews, I'm in Salem. Both Salem and Beverly get their water from Whenam Lake. In fact, Salem and Beverly jointly run the water supply board. So that quality report that woodstone found should apply to both of us.

And I don't add anything to my water when I brew. Tried adding water salts once, and wasn't happy with the results. I do filter it though.

what about steeping in a small quantity of water on your stove top then adding that to your large kettle for the boil?

thanks a ton for your input guys. and yes i did move here to get away from the hippies and the earthquakes; little did i know you were going to have this winter anyhow, the good news is that 6' snowbanks make for an excellent windbreak! and i appreciate the input on the water; i will just use straight tap for now.