Winter is coming.

I have a dilemma. Winter is coming, and it's going to be cold as hell here before too long. I currently do my boil in the garage doorway and most of the rest of my stuff in the basement and kitchen. My garage is not insulated and there's the whole carbon monoxide thing. I have an electric stove that doesn't work very well for brewing. I'm also in the process of acquiring a sanke for making a keggle and hopefully moving to all grain.

I've considered moving to electric brewing, but it seems to be a high startup cost and I'm not sure how sold I am on AG BIAB.

While I would love to be able to brew in my basement and not drag stuff up and down the stairs.

Another option (although I'm not real excited, and not sure how safe it is), is to continue to brew in the (frigid) garage and open the back door and put a fan in the window to act as exhaust.

What are people's thoughts? Any idea how much the startup cost is on going electric? Should I start off with converting that keggle straight into electric, or go gas for a while? Also, any thoughts on going Electric in general would be appreciated.

 

My rig is propane and I brew in my detached garage in the winter. I set my stand up at the front of the garage right at the door and haven't had any problems with CO. It's damn cold but ones gotta do what ones gotta do.

 

I've brewed in a cold ass garage with the garage door open about 6" and a window opened on the side. It was one of those windows that opens on the top or the bottom and I opened the top up about 6" as well. Even before that, I brewed in an unfinished basement with the windows open (ground level windows ... near top of basement wall). I never died or anything.

 

First make sure there's no Lannisters around.


Edit: Oh.... wrong winter is coming...

 

Whatever you decide to do, get a CO detector. It's cheap, and damn useful.

 

just finished the first season... might have to read the books to know what's going on!

 

Bring on the winter! i can't wait for it to be under 105* here.

 

You should, because they're amazing, and you miss a lot even when HBO does the series.

OT: I'm thinking of getting a turkey fryer kit for faster boils and going to my garage as well. So long as there's an opening, CO won't matter. Hell, you could set up a fan to push air toward the door, but if it's warmer in the garage than outside, cold air will rush in lower half of say a normal door opening, while the garage air goes out the upper half.

It's also how I smoke cigars in the winter.

 

Thanks. I think I'll get a CO detector for my brew areas regardless of which way I choose to go this winter.

Anybody want to weigh in on the Electric brewing?


I've only seen a couple episodes of the HBO series, but have been an avid fan of the [first 3] books since high school.

scottland: You can have my sub-zero temps this winter. With the wind here it's not unheard of to hit -40 or -60 windchill.

 

I brew in my garage, too, and do most of my brewing in winter. There are really no worries about CO in a drafty uninsulated garage, but if it makes you feel better to get a CO detector, go for it. I am a cold-weather guy, so I actually prefer brewing in winter, but not everyone is as cold-blooded as me.

 

Yeah, I think I prefer brewing in winter time as well. My CFC works extremely well in the winter time...

 

Im do east of you on the Mississippi. Not trying to be a jerk, but toughen up Iowa gets cold, but very rarely cold enough not to brew.

I brewed one beer in Jan. were the high was 8º, and I did it in my uninsulated garage. The hardest part was keeping the water hos/faucet from freezing but keeping the hose inside and a little MAP torch to the faucet worked just fine.

Personally I love brewing in the real cold, throw on some carhartts, gloves and a beanie and Im good to go. Nice thing about it is itll take boiling wort to 50º in about 20minute w/ an immersion chiller, aka brew some lagers.

 

Nothing like being out in the bereaved at 6 in the morning on a cold day and watching wafts of steam pouring out the door. One time my neighbor called the fire department because she thought it was on fire. Nope just loads of sweet smelling steam!

 

That's "Brewshed", damn autocorrect!

 

I prefer the winter brewing, except for the cleanup.

 

I heat my shop in the winter with propane. I'll be there for hours at a time in the winter, doors/windows closed. never had even a headache. crack a window if you want to, you'll be fine.

 

I brew w propane in my garage (albeit it is lightly insulated and I also have a wall heater). I keep the garage door open about 18 inches and run a box fan in the general direction of the door. I frequently would smoke cigars in there too, and I attribute any light-headedness I got to the cigar not CO. Didnt die last year, but this year I will be putting my CO detector down to see how close I came.

 

Well, my concern is less about the temp, and more about the windchill (I'm in the middle of the wind-capital of the country. We have wind farms. Although in the garage that's less of a concern unless the wind is blowing right in the door. I wouldn't be contemplating it if I couldn't deal with it. Just not relishing it after working outdoors for several winters in Minneapolis.


Think I'll have to do the ventilation + CO detector until I can afford to set up for Electric brews Any suggestions of where to start on that?

 

I started off with an E-HLT. Simply a water heater element installed in my HLT wall. 20A electric plug and 2000 watt element on 110V. You could do this with your new keggle and augment the propane while you build the rest of your rig, I dont think you would need to redo anything except maybe change out to 220V if you want and dont have it already.

I am pretty stuck on propane for now (with my electric HLT). Electric does sound awfully nice, but I'd rather put my money into new batches instead of MORE gadgets. I would like to hookup to natural gas at some point to enjoy some saving on energy though (it wont be as much savings as electric, but it will be nice not having to run to fill propane every month or two.)

 

I brew in my unheated garage with a propane burner. I have a attic gable fan that I run with a window opened an inch or two. I have a sink with H & C water lines that can be shut off & drained. I've brewed at -10 F and while its a little chilly, it works. Biggest problem is that water spilled on the concrete garage floor freezes instantly.

 

You win the internet. This is so awesome I have no words....

 

Yeah, I was wondering about this. People have had propane gas ranges in their kitchens for ages, why is this any different? Just wondering.

 

If you take a look at the sheer size of, say, a 10" diameter KAB4/BG14 burner and compare its output/gas usage against a typical range burner, it should be pretty obvious why folks need to be careful about using one (or two, or three) indoors...

Cheers!

 

Plus, as far as I understand it, a range will almost always burn cleanly whereas many burners won't. If it burns clean it's safe, if not, it's dangerous in a closed space.

 

I think I am going to move to an electric setup in my basement due to the cold weather. I would love to brew out in my garage during the winter but I can't run a hose to the garage in the winter for cooling the wort. It gets damn cold and the hose would freeze. Plus I shutdown my outdoor water spigots before frost comes.

 

You might want to check the specs on any CO detector before you try and use it in a cold garage. I'm willing to bet that they are intended to work in indoor type conditions (read that as above 50F or whatever). You might get either no useful readings at all, or false tripping.

LOL - we just bought this house in Minnesota in the winter. It was -28F below (real temp, not windchill) the day we did a walk-through, and the house had been winterized and was not heated. When we got here, every smoke detector in the house was going off. I've since had to replace every one of them since they all failed the test mode.

DJG

 

If all 4 burners are going on the range, which is allowable by design, I bet the range has more burner size/space than 1 10" burner. I agree, if you have several burning that has to be a concern too. But as the next reply mentions....

 

My thought too, a range doesn't have as much to adjust and probably burns more efficient.

I think it is a bad idea to use a turkey fryer indoors due to safety, design etc. But I guess I was just questioning the only concern seemed to be the gas burning in the house which is not uncommon without the need to open any windows.

 

Have you ever seen a KAB4 in a full throat burn? I seriously doubt any conventional four-burner gas range could come close to that even with all four burners on high...

Cheers!

 

I wonder why they can't make turkey fryers to burn as clean as a home gas range?

 

Because then everybody would want to use them in their house...

 

The biggest problem I encountered in Winter brewing was water freezing in the garden hose. I require a fairly long hose from the water tap on the side of the house to the garage door, and it's somewhat difficult to be sure to get all the water drained out of the hose.

My solution was different than others discussed here- I quit brewing in the heat & bugs of Summer and the cold of Winter. I completed a project expanding my pipeline sufficiently that I have shelf space for enough beer to last 3-4 months. So- I just have two intensive brew seasons in Spring and Fall, and forget about it during the extremes.

The good news: it's kind of nice having some extended time off from brewing. The bad news: I now have to brew during the two busiest seasons of the year when it comes to getting other stuff done. My preferred solution would be to go to electric brewing, so I can brew in Winter in the basement....but I'm not prepared for that kind of investment. Maybe I'll try some brewing in the warm spells this Winter......

 

Make sure to wear good pants so your vagina doesn't freeze - couldn't help it ..

I brew in a 8x12 shed and it's 100f in there when the boil gets going. I just throw on some jams, sip a margarita, and listen to some Buffet !

 

I agree wholeheartedly with the Buffett, but that brewshed of yours is way too hot! I would rather sit outside with my CarHartts on.

 

I winter brew in my uninsulated garage with the overhead door wide open and my back garage door blocked open with a 4x4 post scrap. I don't mind it all. My biggest hazard are spills freezing on the concrete floor. I slipped on one once and was reeling towards 12 gal of boiling wort. Scary but I fell next to it. Lesson learned!!

My biggest gripe is needing to store all my brewing equipment in the basement so the hose fittings, pumps, and valves don't freeze from residual water left from the previous brew.

I don't brew in the summer!! Too damn HOT

 

Never gets cold enough for you down here lived there for 20+ never could handle that much cold......made chilling, easy ground water at 42* vs. 75* Buffett always a must when brewing go with Volcano

 

A very basic electric kettle is not that expensive. I just finished mine, and while I don't have a price list I think I spent about 80-100 for everything including ball valves. I am running 2000w 120 with just a switch for control, it takes some time to heat up but reaches and holds a nice boil.
Even with electric you still need ventilation, brewing puts out alot of steam which is not nice to your house, so watch out for that.

 

Hooray for spam posts?

At any rate, a quick update:

I've been working on an electric setup for my basement which should be nice. My basement is approx 65 degrees year round which makes it nice. (I also have my dart board down there, my utility sink, and easy access to my beer fridge.) I've got a pretty decent setup so far (single vessel biab for now) I think. I'll try to post some pics once I've got it done.