Brewing In Garage During Winter in Cold Climate

[nygel74]

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

 

[Yooper]

I don't think people who live in more moderate climates realize what we're up against in the winter!

Any outdoor faucet in my area will freeze/explode. My friend runs a hose from his house on brewday, but it has to be disconnected right away, and the faucet outside drained so the faucet doesn't freeze. I think(?) he skipped the outdoor faucet and ran it from his house so he can just disconnect the hose. He kept his shop heated with wood on brewdays.

Since there are few days in the UP where it would be nice to brew outside, I brewed mostly on my stovetop until I built/acquired an all-electric indoor system. There are ways around many things, but the convenience of brewing indoors in this hostile climate can't be beat. No way could I brew in my garage in the winter- there would be no water to it. With an attached garage, it'd be doable, though.

No-chill could be an option, but brewing and clean up could be very difficult without a water source and a faucet.

 

[kombat]

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?

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.

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

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.

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

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).

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?

Yup, the aforementioned plate chiller and a Chugger pump.

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

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.

 

[Psylocide]

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.

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.

 

[kombat]

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.

 

[Psylocide]

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?

Yep.

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?

Nope.

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?

Yep.

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.

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.

 

[nygel74]

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?

 

[kombat]

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

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.

 

[kombat]

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?

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.

 

[Yooper]

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?

It has to be MUCH cooler!

You could try those 'winpacks' that many use for no-chill. The advantage to that is you send it to the fermenter boiling hot, and then seal it up. Pitch the yeast the next day when it's cool. You could carry it in the house when it's cool, before pitching, if you normally ferment in the house and not the garage, and then pitch the yeast.

 

[Psylocide]

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 minutes longer.

Yeah we all have our methods.

By the time the boil is done, I'm spent on brewing. So I like to just walk away from it.

Then the next morning, I wake up, have some breakfast, go transfer to fermenter (everything is in the garage at this point), walk it to my fermenting room and let it sit.

Go hit the BK with the hose, give it a good scrub and I'm done.

Just more relaxing, I feel.

 

[TeamAshBrewing]

Im in Minnesota and in the same boat as a lot of you. If the outside temp is warmer than 15, I can brew in the garage comfortably. Once the burners are going, it quickly heats up to the upper 50's/low 60s. I crack the garage door for fresh air.

I run a food grade hose from an inside faucet and serves for all cold water supply including filling my HLT, chiller, etc. I have a shutoff valve on the hose end so I don't have to run back and forth.

I use an immersion chiller that runs out to a snow bank thru a long hose.
At the start of brew day, I bring both hoses inside to warm up. At the end of brew day, I run compressed air thru both hoses to blow out any water to keep from freezing.

 

[kombat]

Go hit the BK with the hose, give it a good scrub and I'm done.

Don't forget the Fizz-X rod I used to aerate the wort, the beaker I rehydrated the yeast in, the spoon I used to stir the yeast, the funnel I used to pour the yeast into the fermenter, the hose I used to rack the beer from the kettle to the fermenter, the hydrometer and test jar, and whatever else I dirtied along the way.

Cleaning sucks!

 

[Psylocide]

Don't forget the Fizz-X rod I used to aerate the wort, the beaker I rehydrated the yeast in, the funnel I used to pour the yeast into the fermenter, the hose I used to rack the beer from the kettle to the fermenter, the hydrometer and test jar, and whatever else I dirtied along the way.

Cleaning sucks!

Lol. Too many gadgets.

Rehydrate yeast in a pyrex measuring cup, shake fermenter like a marthafloccer, pour straight in.

Transfer hose/hydro is small taters.

 

[nygel74]

but I don't have to worry about thermal shock If I were to just dump in a plastic fermenter, ie ale pale? But I cant put an air lock in since all the liquid would be sucked in

 

[gwaugh]

Normally I run a hose from the faucet in the house out to the chiller and another that drains into the yard. This winter I'm moving indoors. Here in Ohio the winter can be freezing and for most of the summer the humidity is terrible. After the brutal cold of last winter I'm currently building an electric system in the basement so I can brew whenever I want to. It also happens to be where my fermentation fridge and keezer are so no more lugging around carboys of wort.

 

[Yooper]

but I don't have to worry about thermal shock If I were to just dump in a plastic fermenter, ie ale pale? But I cant put an air lock in since all the liquid would be sucked in

Not thermal shock, no. But I don't think "ale pails" are rated for temperatures over about 150 degrees. You'd have to check into that.

 

[andrewmaixner]

Not thermal shock, no. But I don't think "ale pails" are rated for temperatures over about 150 degrees. You'd have to check into that.

Other way around, actually. ale pails are HDPE, which is rated to 120 °C/ 248 °F for short periods, 110 °C /230 °F continuously. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-density_polyethylene )

PETE (clear) better bottle style containers are only rated to about 140F (not exact, but far from boiling). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyethylene_terephthalate

Glass is just dangerous to put hot liquid into, unless you are ready for a cleanup and don't mind literally risking your life.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

not to debunk the specs but I boil through my system before every brew and use that boiling water to sterilize my plastic buckets, I have BSE buckets which are very strong and cant even see through them but to the point so far no side effects on quality or rigidness

 

[microbusbrewery]

I'm in a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah, so it gets pretty cold but not quite as cold as you. I've been brewing in the garage for years now, although the last time I brewed outside it was in the teens and my water lines for my chiller started to freeze up as the sun went down. The garage can be cold too but usually we're talking a low in the high 30's.

1. I use a plate chiller now. I plumbed a hose bib in the garage then run a discharge hose onto the grass (snow) next to the driveway.

2. Plate chiller year round although an immersion chiller would work fine too. See #1, you just need a water source and a means to discharge water outside the garage.

3. Yep

4. About 80% of the time I do 5 gallon batches. When I do 10, I still use 6-7 gallon fermenters, so I just split the batch between two fermenters. I have a ferm fridge in the garage, so I fill them then toss them in there.

P.S. I also plumbed natural gas in my garage. Everything pre-boil is electric but the boil kettle uses a NG burner. I usually brew with the garage door closed in the winter, so a CO/explosive gas detector is essential IMO.