brewing in cold temps

[cliffy]

anyone have a hard time brewing outside in cold weather with propane?
planning on doing a 13 gallon boil on sunday, and it supposed to be a high of 22 here in Boston. i do have a wind shield i made out of aluminum flashing, just worried about bringing that much fluid up to a boil

 

[duboman]

If you can put the tank in a tub of warm water it will help keep the gas flowing properly, otherwise it will begin to freeze up and reduce the gas flow.

 

[BasementLurker]

The coldest I have brewed is about 16 degrees. Everything usually starts fine, but once I turn off the burner, the regulator freezes up and I don't get enough propane to the burner. This has happened to me a couple times, and each time I was able to fix it by heating up the regulator with a hair dryer. It only takes a minute or two, and I usually just do it until the regulator is warm (maybe 70 degrees or so). Once it's going good, it has always been fine for the duration of that heating/boiling step.

 

[b-boy]

It is difficult, but it can be done. If it's windy, I'd probably just skip it. If it's just cold you should be fine. My last batch was done at 7F.

The boil takes a lot longer to get going and maintaining mash temuratures is a challenge. I lost a few more degrees than I usually do during the mash. I went in a little hotter to compensate.

My biggest problems was a water supply. I had an RV hose running water and it froze solid in just a few minutes. Cleanup is a pain too. I had to lug everything into my basement to clean it.

 

[Foosier]

One thing I have done is brew in my garage. The burner heats the space enough to make it bearable. I keep the garage door cracked (6 inches to a foot open) to ensure there is plenty of airflow so I don't have Carbon Monoxide issues.

I also have a full heat jacket for my kettle. It wraps the entire pot and ensures all heat that hits the bottom of the pot is then vented up along the sides of the pot before mixing with the air. This really helps me get to boiling fast with my jet burner.

 

[MarsingRedneck]

anyone have a hard time brewing outside in cold weather with propane?
planning on doing a 13 gallon boil on sunday, and it supposed to be a high of 22 here in Boston. i do have a wind shield i made out of aluminum flashing, just worried about bringing that much fluid up to a boil

Yep! Maintaining constant temperature. It's up and down. Same as you propane burner outside cold weather here in Treasure Valley Idaho.

 

[funnycreature]

I recently posted about my experience brewing in the freezing cold. Biggest advice I can give is to make sure to read your refractometer at room temperature!

 

[itchygomey]

Only 5 gallon batches for me, but I really look forward to doing the boil in above zero weather. North Dakota has been really cold this year.


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[cliffy]

thanks for all the suggestions. I'm lucky enough to have a basement door in the driveway, and the basement is 1/2 below and 1/2 above ground and set up the mash tun right inside, with a run off hose from the kettle gravity fed right inside to the MT. so my biggest hurdle will be getting that temp up and the tank from freezing up. maybe ill plan to switch off between 2 tanks, and have a hair dryer at the ready,since the basement brewery is also half my wives hair studio. I'm completely over winter at this point. I'm ready for some warm weather and some lighter beer drinkin outdoors style. cheers everyone and don't drink too little!!

 

[jrgtr42]

I'm right there with you, Cliffy...
I'm planning on brewing Sunday as well, here in Newton. Also just 5 gallons.
I plan to mash and lauter inside, then bring it outside to boil. I have a porch right off the kitchen that I will use. I did an IPA in January, and even though it was above freezing, it still took a while to get up to boil. I also lost more than usual to evaporation. This week I'll have to plan for that, and maybe start at 7+ gallons pre-boil. The bonus is that chilling won't be an issue. As long as the hose isn';t frozen solid, it'll get down to pitching temp in about 15 minutes.

 

[Bamsdealer]

Ive been doing it regularly in the teens this winter. The biggest thing that's helped me is staying out of the wind just inside the garage. So far I've had no problems... just give the tank a shake every now and then to keep the propane flowing. The best thing is I'm able to chill in no time with my immersion chiller. In the summer I can get the wort to about 80 then need to use ice or a fridge to get it down the last 20.