Brewing in the frickin' cold!

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Ernst-Haeckel

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I am going to be brewing tonight, it's supposed to be in the single digits, then down to -15 overnight (brrr!). I am going to do everything but the boil indoors, but I thought I would post and see if anyone has any reason for me not to brew in this cold!

I assume I will have a higher evap. rate. But I also assume I shouldn't have a problem getting the boil going.

Wish me luck!
 
I brewed today at 25 and got more boil off. Bundle up and hang close to the kettle. At least I had some sun.
 
I wonder if a CHEAP tent would help? I've used tents as temporary paint booths and super portable and cheap ice houses and the right tent (especially those old canvas ones) can actually stay pretty warm. And probably especially warm with a burner and kettle. :D Just make sure you don't use all your oxygen if you're in there with it.
 
I brewed in the freaking cold today, and when I turned my hose bib line back on, nothing. Something must have frozen near the house exit.

That was a fun scramble with 5.5 gallons of extremely hot liquid that needed to get down stairs to my basement basin. Oh well, alls well that ends well, I suppose.
 
I would have loved to brew today even in the bitter cold, but I'm sick as a friggin dog. Hope whoever brewed today, cold or warm, enjoyed every minute of it.
tom
 
I brewed last night outside in the single digits. I seemed to have a lot more boil off than normal. Must've looked like my house was on fire with the huge cloud I produced.

I set my Indian Brown on the concrete slab for a few minutes and ended up having a beer slushy.

I was prepared to make a 5 gallon batch of Orfy's Mild, but hit my SG with just over 4 gallons of brew. Not sure why this happened, seems like any boil off would be just water. Any ideas?
 
the temp would be enough reason for me not to brew. it was 52 here today, and as i brew in my garage, it wasn't too cold :D
 
I would have loved to brew today even in the bitter cold, but I'm sick as a friggin dog. Hope whoever brewed today, cold or warm, enjoyed every minute of it.
tom

Where's Fleetwood? It was 20*F, tops, in the Philly area... I would have loved to brew as well... had to put my carpenter hat on and work on the house though. Oh well, plenty of cold weather left to brew in!
 
I think that I'm going to brew a batch at the ice house this year - that would be fun!
All I would need to do is haul out a bunch of water.
DSC_5437.jpg
 
i am brewing in az today. its 72 outside. i have every window in the house open and game on TV. i love AZ....at least 8 months out of the year
 
Alright, just finished the sparge and started the boil. It's 5 deg. F out there, and now they updated the forecast to -19 tonight! I feel like I'm back in Wisconsin!
 
0 degrees here yesterday. I brewed my first AG batch. Very fast chill outside with an ice bath. About 20 mins
 
I just finished brewing about 20 minutes ago and did it all in the unheated shed outside. It was damn cold, even with the burner cranked during the boil. Couple extra homebrews helped me stay warm and now I will have another full keg in about a month. Gotta love making beer up here in nh! And I love the beer in the bobhouse idea, might just have to try that one.
 
I like brewing in the cold. The summers here in FL are brutal. Give me the cold any day!
 
The temp here was a daytime high of about 25. I'm starting to get accustomed to lower temps lately, so it wasn't too bad. Brewed a Smithwick's clone. Had also planned an American Amber clone, but got a late start and had to abort in favor of getting ready for the playoffs. After having seen the J-E-T-S (f'ers)... l-o-s-e, I should have brewed the other beer (at least for the first half, anyway...). A cozy 14F now. Going to drown my sorrow in homebrew...
 
i am brewing in az today. its 72 outside. i have every window in the house open and game on TV. i love AZ....at least 8 months out of the year

Brewing in the cold is no big deal, just stay close to the burner for heat. I grew up in Chicago so I know about cold weather, you want a brewing challange? try brewing here in AZ in the summer, 118 degrees outside, 122+ in the garage, 103 degree tap water wont chill crap down, and unless you have a fermentation fridge, try keeping fermentation temps below 80 inside without a 450 dollar electric bill.
 
i brewed on saturday it was quite cold about 10ish, i had to get the kerosene heater out and we stood by that and the brew pot to keep warm. i would not do that today tho... right now its -5... yesterday the hose froze after 10min from turning it off on my cooler, so today cold only be worse
 
I've done the last two batches at close to 0* outside, about 15* in the garage. It's hard to maintain a buzz, otherwise I don't complain about it too much.
 
Officially below zero, down to -2, and the boil is still going. I think I will tag "Sub-Zero" onto the name of this brew: LoBrau: Sub Zero!

I Love Winter! If it's going to be cold, then bring it on!
 
makes it super easy to chill. stick it in a snowbank and use the immersion chiller badabing badaboom.
 
I'd rather brew in the Sacramento winter (50s) than the Sacramento summer (100s) any day of the week. Nice and mild in the upper 30s to low 40s at night. Still can get chilly some nights though in the 20s. I feel lucky, haha.
 
I brewed outside Saturday. Excess boil off from the cold and wind caused me to come out just under 5 gal. Hit all my other number though. I don't mind brewing in the cold. I'm loving the cooler fermentation temps since I use my ambient basement temp.
 
I am going to be brewing tonight, it's supposed to be in the single digits, then down to -15 overnight (brrr!). I am going to do everything but the boil indoors, but I thought I would post and see if anyone has any reason for me not to brew in this cold!

I assume I will have a higher evap. rate. But I also assume I shouldn't have a problem getting the boil going.

Wish me luck!

Probably after the fact but I brew in the cold all the time. The biggest issue I have faced was spilling some liquid on the cement floor in my garage and it froze. I didn't notice and slid, lost my balance and almost fell against 12 gal of boiling wort. That would not have been a good thing........

I usually add 1/2 gal of water at 30 minutes to compensate for greater boil off rate.
 
Officially below zero, down to -2, and the boil is still going. I think I will tag "Sub-Zero" onto the name of this brew: LoBrau: Sub Zero!

I Love Winter! If it's going to be cold, then bring it on!

If you love the cold then you are living in the wrong location! Here is the weather from one of the places that I fly to from saturday. You'll notice that they removed the windchill warning because it was only supposed to be -50. Of course homebrewing is illegal there (along with the possession of alcohol), so perhaps you are better off where you are.

fort severn warning ended.JPG
 
I brewed Saturday. It was -4 outside and about 20 in the garage when I fired up the HLT. I had to thaw my hose spigot 3 times with a propane torch. From outside it looked like the garage was on fire from all the steam. I still enjoyed it, just not as much.
 
Brewed in the 20's Saturday... and the brew will be known as "Frozen Toes IPA" ! It was continually hopped so I had to stand out there and baby sit it the entire boil! Next time I'll be getting some of those little hand/feet warmer packets!!
 
If you love the cold then you are living in the wrong location! Here is the weather from one of the places that I fly to from saturday. You'll notice that they removed the windchill warning because it was only supposed to be -50. Of course homebrewing is illegal there (along with the possession of alcohol), so perhaps you are better off where you are.

I don't think I would brew in that weather!
 
i am brewing in az today. its 72 outside. i have every window in the house open and game on TV. i love AZ....at least 8 months out of the year

Hey I brewed yesterday in Chandler. The weather was awesome yesterday wasn't it? Would you mind some company on your next brew day? I have beer I could bring.
 
Talk to me when you can do this at -10c (14 f):

17364d2a64dc600ee.jpg


This isn't me but it is my buddy on brew day 2 weeks ago.
 
I brewed yesterday in -30 Celsius.. what an adventure. The propane tank kept freezing, so I had to keep shaking it to keep it going. Had trouble getting a good boil, missed my OG by 2 points... but otherwise not to bad.

Good news is.. the water (well) coming through my IC was like ice!!!
 
You guys ever been told that you're off your rocker? :drunk: At that point I'd be digging a basement and piping in an exhaust system. Frozen propane....
 
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