Brewing In Garage During Winter in Cold Climate

I'm in Michigan and it gets pretty darn cold during the winter. I'm curious what others do in similar climates to continue brewing?

Aside from the general question above, I also have some specific questions relative to where my own progression in brewing is headed after just brewing my first batch (currently fermenting):

1) How do you use an immersion or counter flow wort chiller in cold climates in your garage?

2) Once you move up to full boil, all grain brewing, how do you chill your wort.... Especially in winter?

3) Based on question #3, I assume once you get to this level you are using some type of wort chiller and not using a water/ice bath?

4) Once you move up to bigger batches, (10 gal +) how do you move your batch around? (I.e. From garage to basement)

So many questions.....

Thanks!

 

1.) I brew(ed) in my garage with the doors cracked open for cross ventilation. By time I got to the chill the garage was nicely heated from the boil.
2.) Plate chiller
3.) ?
4.) I kept everything in the garage. Used siphon to avoid lifting.

 

1. I don't... I leave it outside at sub freezing temps with the lid on, it cools down pretty quickly. I don't know why so many people are dead set on cooling that wort "as quickly as possible."

2. See #1.

3. See #1.

4. Siphon into fermenters... carry to basement?

 

2.) Plate Chiller: still have to allow water to run out don't you? If it's 20 degrees out, where does the water go? And where do you get it from?

3.) I was basically asking if anyone uses bath chilling at this level.

4.) But if you need to ferment at 65-70 degrees, how can you keep it in the garage?

 

Ok, makes sense to me now. Starting to get the picture.

 

1.) Washing machine. And what doesn't go there, goes in the yard. Water heater is in a closet in my garage. I have lines feeding from the cold and hot sides of that. Worst part of cold weather brewing is the clouds that form in the garage.

4.) Dual stage Ranco controlling freezer and UL Listed ceramic space heater inside the freezer. But, it doesn't take much to heat an insulated box.

 

I also live in Michigan, and will probably start brewing in my garage very soon.

1.) I would imagine that if you don't have a sink or hose spigot nearby, you would probably have to have some sort of pump system and a holding tank of some sort for the water.

2.) Full boil can still be chilled using an immersion chiller, it may take longer with a 25' chiller..maybe upgrade to a 50'. If you have a large kettle with a valve on it, you can get a counterflow or plate chiller and chill as you transfer from kettle to primary.

3.) I use an ice bath along with my immersion chiller. Currently, I put some ice water in my sink, put the kettle in, get my chiller going, and add more ice/water until the sink is full. I put my "water out" hose from my chiller in that sink once it gets cold enough. Michigan winters are perfect because we have a natural method of chilling...SNOW! Get a large tub or tote and fill with snow and place the kettle in..scoop out the water as it melts and repack with snow as needed.

4.) I currently brew 5 gallon batches, so I don't have personal experience here. I would imagine your set up would be a bit more permanent and your primary would be close to where you brew so there isn't much carrying of equipment..just transferring of the wort.

 

I've read several books that say that the wort is the most vulnerable to contamination at this point, so you want to chill and pitch as soon as possible to avoid a potential problem..

 

Lots of folks will use a submersible pond pump to recirculate water out of a 5 gal bucket of ice water. Run that through your chiller and you can get to pitching temps pretty quickly.
To psylocide's point, there is a camp of folks that practice 'no chill' brewing and let the wort cool off with out assisting it.
In homebrewing there are as many ways to do things and techniques to be discussed as there are brewers-as long as they work for you, there is nothing wrong with it.

 

Well... the boil took place in the BK and the steam sanitizes the lid when it's put on at flameout.

Even if you chilled your wort quickly, but didn't sanitize your siphon properly, you're going to introduce nasties, so there is no difference there between the two methods.

Yes, you can pitch faster, but if your sanitation is good, there's really no reason to worry.

 

Fair enough, I was just stating what i had read. A lot of sources emphasize how vulnerable your wort is at this point...but your points make a lot of sense.

 

I'm also not debating that it isn't a good practice, just that it's not as important as everyone makes it out to be.

At least in my experience.

 

Yeah, so we get some pretty nice weather here too..

You're making it sound much harder than it needs to be. If its that cold, just put it outside. Don't stick it in a snow bank. If you have a tub or kid pool you can place it in and hit with some water, it will chill fast.

That being said, @psylocide has preached no chill for a while. I scoffed at the idea every time and every brew day I got stressed out trying to chill. Finally did no chill. I'll never go back.

 

I really think this + a submersible pump recirculating the water is the answer if you're going to use an IC regardless of season.


In the summer, you can easily get down to pitching temps (even for lagers if you wish) whereas if you're just going off hose water, you'll hit a point of diminishing returns and / or use a lot of water to cool down all the way.


In the winter, you're not running water down your driveway / etc creating an ice rink, and can use snow and ice that nature provides.

 

I'm planning on having a spigot plumbed into my garage that I can turn on and off when brewing so it doesn't freeze. . As for the discharge from the chiller, if I can't run it outside, I will use 2-3 5 gallon buckets and carry them outside for dumping while the next bucket fills. I've had to use this method when brewing in the garage during a rain storm and it worked okay.

 

Living in WI and brewing in my garage; I know how the OP must feel. I would love someone's input on how to best keep the garage warm for winter brewing. Last winter kicked my butt and I didn't brew much. I even went out and bought a Mr. Buddy heater; but it runs on propane which burns up pretty quick (I brew with Propane too and that bill gets pretty large). I was thinking of a natural gas heater (expensive and no current line to the garage). Or an electric heater (again; expensive and now I need a new breaker sub panel). I love brewing but hate the winter cold. I want to change that this year.

*Following....thanks in advance.

As for the OP's other questions;
2. I wonder mostly too where the water goes when chilling. I am thinking just run the hose out of the garage to a place where a little ice buildup isn't going to be a huge concern.

3. Counterflow chiller works for summer, would probably work great in winter provided you have access to a spigot. (See 2.)

4. Not sure, I don't currently partake in too many 10 gallon batches. I would think with the temps and struggles you may incur, a 5 gallon day may be enough to entail .

Happy Brewing!

 

Get a bigger burner...with the jet burner we run, if you want to heat up at all, just huddle closer to the beer!

 

1) as long as your supply lines don't freeze a chiller works amazingly fast with winter cold water... I just run the water outside. If you can go to a drain all the better.

2) see #1

3) I use an immersion chiller. I don't do no chill because I want my brewday finished on the brewday not the next day.

4) I don't do larger than five gallons but if I did it would be split into 5 gallon fermenters or I would have a conical in a situation where the cold would not be an issue.

OP, The only thing that is important with no chill is that you have good sanitation practices. The idea of pitching ASAP is, partially, that new brewers might not have great sanitation practices and will be at higher risk, so the sooner the better for them.

 

By time I have strike water heated, my garage is tolerable in shorts and a t-shirt.

 

An excuse to buy new equipment.....hmmm. SWMBO might have an issue with it. But I don't think she would want me to freeze to death either lol. That said, I get concerned with ventilation. So, having to open the doors a crack for cross ventilation...i lose heat; at least last winter I did. Thus....

 

I sit on a chair next to a table on a side wall. I have an electric heater under the table. It keeps me just warm enough until the boil is started then the burner is more than enough until neat the end of the chilling process.

Try making a small cubicle that you can sit in and heat up.

 

I fill my HLT with ice water and circulate through plate chiller.

 

12gal batches, infusion mash.

Mash all electric in my basement, with coolers and ANOVA sous vide heater.

Carry outside in 5gal buckets to do the boil. Start burner as soon as the first wort bucket comes out

Chill with hose and copper coil just like in summer, when possible
I have done a recirculating ice bath once. It annoyed me, but so be it.
If it's cold enough just let it cool in the wind

Fill fermenters outside and carry them back to the basement. Or if I am feeling like it, carry the cooled pot with 10-13 gallons back downstairs, carefully, first. One step at a time, backwards. Just like doing deadlifts.

 

My stove can handle a 7 gallon rolling boil, so I lucked out and get to brew in the winter while watching it snow on the outside from my toasty apartment

 

I have both colder than crap winters and hotter than hell summers here so I brew in the garage in the winter, only issue I have is steam raising up to my garage ceiling, I'm slowly staining the sheet rock, Ive started putting a fan blowing out to the driveway and it seems to help somewhat and yes I keep the garage door up a foot

 

It gets pretty cold where I am at, so I am insulating my garage for this winter. I try and keep the door shut as much as possible. Now that I am all electric, I should fare a bit better this year.

I use a plate chiller, running water from the spigot in my garage. The runoff goes outside, where I try to keep it in the yard so I dont make my driveway an ice rink.

As for moving the beer, all my stuff stays in the garage, so its just a matter of moving the carboys into the ferm chamber after brewing. Milk crates work wonders for moving full carboys around the house FYI

 

I have a system where i fill my Mash tun with Snow & a little water
and pump that threw a HERMS coil.
Just recirculate it

- in the summer i use ICE - from the corner store.

Because before I had a Herms coil, i was carrying my 7 gal pot
into the house, and running water threw an immersion chiller, then into the washing machine - as to not waste clean water.

You can use SNOW to cool you wort, with a pump, and a container to fill.
I just keep shoveling snow into my mash tun to get the temp to crash quicker.

my 2 cents
Steve

 

To achieve a good cold break and minimize chill haze later in the process. Also to minimize the time the wort is vulnerable to organisms, potentially infecting/contaminating the wort before the yeast has a chance to get going. Also to shorten the brew day.

 

OK, so let's say I want to try no-chill. I finish the boil, kill the flame, put the lid on, then ... what? Just leave it for several hours to cool on its own?

Do you ever have an issue with the steam condensing on the lid, forming a bit of a seal, then as the wort/air in the kettle cools, the lid gets deformed as everything contracts?

So it's 12 hours later and your wort is finally down to 70° F. Now what? You rack to the fermenter, move it downstairs, aerate, prep/pitch the yeast, and clean everything up?

How does this save any time? It sounds to me like it just turns 1 brew day into 2. When I'm done brewing, I want to be DONE brewing. I want to pop a cold one, kick up my feet, and look forward to checking on my baby the next morning. Not dreading all the work and cleanup that still has to be done.

 

Are you not opening the garage door? Aren't you worried about carbon monoxide?

 

Im glad I stumbled onto this thread. Being in the great white north, winters are brutal and I am going to be forced to use the garage. Lots of good pointers! Thanks

 

I'm in Ottawa, Canada, so I'm sure it gets just as cold here as it does where you are.

I brew in my garage in the winter. I do 5/10 gallon all-grain batches with propane. I've begun acquiring the materials to construct an electric kettle that I plan on using as an HLT so that I can do at least the first part of brewing in my basement, only having to move to the garage for the actual boil.

I use a plate chiller. I have a hose faucet in my garage that is my source for cold water. It's attached to the wall that is part of my house (i.e., it's heated living space on the other side), so it doesn't freeze. However, the water coming out of it is very cold in the winter, which makes chilling a dream. I can get 5 gallons of boiling wort down to 65° F in about 3 minutes.

The one thing you have to be careful of with winter brewing is: Don't leave "wet" equipment in the garage. In the summer, I can just leave my chiller, pumps, hoses etc. in the garage. But in the winter, it really sucks to have your pump frozen solid and just buzz at you when you need it.

For chilling, I recirculate the wort back to the boil kettle until it's down to the target temperature (as opposed to running it directly into a fermenter in one pass). I take cold water from the faucet, run it through the plate chiller, collect the first (hottest) bit of water in a bucket with a scoop of PBW. I use that for cleaning later. I collect the next bucket of (still pretty hot) water to use as clean, hot water for cleaning. I collect one more bucket of cooler water for initial rinsing and flushing of equipment, then the remainder just gets dumped down the driveway or into a snowbank beside my driveway. In the winter, it takes about 5-6 buckets of chill water to chill a 5 gallon batch down to 65° F.

Cold water from the faucet in the garage, through a plate chiller, recirculating the wort back into the boil kettle until it hits 65° F (3 minutes for a 5 gallon batch, 6-7 minutes for a 10 gallon batch).

Yup, the aforementioned plate chiller and a Chugger pump.

I leave it where it is (on the burner) until it's chilled, then drain it from the valve into the first carboy. Once that's filled, I lift the kettle up onto the table and fill the second carboy. I carry each carboy downstairs to the fermentation chambers one at a time, using milk crates and BrewHauler straps.

 

I don't have a problem with chill haze I guess, but I use kettle finings and fine later with gelatin.





I would argue that my brew day is shorter, since I don't have to chill.

 

And I would argue that my day-after-brew-day is shorter, since I don't have to do anything, while you still have to rack to a fermenter, prepare the yeast, aerate the wort, pitch the yeast, and clean everything up.

 

Yep.

Nope.

Yep.

It saves time because I'm not spending any time chilling?

Do you not have to transfer to a fermenter and clean? Are you fermenting in your BK?

When I'm done brewing, I'm done. I crack a beer (number 10 by this point, most likely) when the lid goes on and flame goes out. If I have a hopstand, I'll chuck 'em in quick in a few hours. No biggie.

Come back sometime later or next morning or whenever I feel like it, transfer and pitch if it's at temp.

Cleaning the BK is super easy... I don't mind doing it in the morning. I'm usually drunk by the time I'm done brewing anyhow. I don't feel like cleaning ****.

It should be noted that I use glass carboys, so I don't want to risk breakage from thermal shock. But some no-chill brewers just transfer right to the bucket after the boil.

 

If I decide to do no chill, since I don't have water outside in the winter time, can I just let the wort cool for about 30 mins or so and then transfer to a glass carboy, or do I have to wait for a few hours till its much cooler?

 

A valid point. I would counter that - at least in winter - chilling only accounts for 3 minutes of my brew day. Setting everything up (pump, hoses, plate chiller) occurs during the boil, so no extra time spent there. In fairness, there's an additional 5 minutes or so of cleaning the pump, chiller, and hoses, but I usually just hook everything up and run hot PBW backwards through the whole shebang while cleaning my boil kettle.

Granted, in summer, chilling takes considerably longer. I usually quit once it's down to 75° F and let my ferm chamber take it down the rest of the way.

I guess what I'm saying is, for me at least, I'd rather get it all done in one shot and be done than have it stretch out over 2 days, even if the total time ends up being 10 - 20 minutes longer.

 

If you can't hold your hand against the outside of the kettle without burning it, I wouldn't transfer it to a carboy.

I haven't done the math, but I don't think the wort would cool appreciably in just 30 minutes. When I'm doing a hopstand, I chill the wort down to 180° F, throw in the hops, and leave it. After 20 minutes, it's only lost at most another 10° or so, still way too hot to touch, let alone rack to a carboy. Even with the lid off, I imagine it would be several hours before the wort was cool enough to touch the kettle without burning your hand, and even that might still be too hot to rack to a carboy without risking thermally shocking it.