Sparging temps....dealing with cold weather

So it's 24° here tonight while I'm brewing an amber ale. Wind-chill is 10°.

Did my fly sparge and the mash temp dipped as low as 140°. I finally brought my sparge water to near boiling just to try to get the temp up, but to no avail.

I already know that I need to redesign my MLT (converted 60qt rectangular cooler) & sparge arm to allow it to have the lid closed while sparging, but what does everyone else do when brewing in cold temps like these? Just looking for any tips....

Also, how do think this amber will turn out with the mash temp getting so low?

It will turn out fine... maybe lose a couple eff. points. I converted my MLT to allow my sparge to take place with the lid closed.

I too brew in cold weather. I do more of the batch sparging technique, by slowly pouring about 1 gallon or so several times over the top of the mash for sparging, then close the cooler back up. I have 2 coolers, a 5 and a 10 gallon, both with a SS line for filtering. For the main mash, I constantly have that on the propane burner, so it doesn't loose any heat. It does stay uncovered. Perhaps, if possible, you may want to think about brewing in a garage that you can at least get the setup out of the wind.

avidhomebrewer said:

Perhaps, if possible, you may want to think about brewing in a garage that you can at least get the setup out of the wind.

Click to expand...

Sadly I'm already brewing out of my garage....it actually did keep all the wind out (tonight), but normally it blows right in.

either direct fire your mash tun or add an electric heating element to the cooler to bring the temps up or maintain temps.

I've brewed on some pretty cold days as well. I batch sparge and havent' had to move inside from the garage yet. My MLT obviously doesn't hold temp like it does in warmer weather, but I seem to only lose 1 or 2 degrees.

The simplest solution may be to just mash and sparge inside then transfer to your boil kettle.

My garage only gets down to 45F in the winter and with a burner running it will easily hit 70... Id never be able to brew outside in the winter!

Thanks for the replies. Looks like it's time to upgrade my mash tun.

On a side note I did still manage to hit 75% efficiency even with all the temp problems.

HOT sparges are nice, but cooler ones wont really affect your beer. Enjoy it and use this to tune in your system so that you can WOW your neighbors (if you haven't already!)