Coldest weather brewed in?

[IrregularPulse]

Just curious as to what everyone's "Too Cold" Limit is for brewing. I don't expect any sympathy since alot of you are from Michigan, Minnestoa, ect, but I was planning on brewing tomorrow but it's gonna be 28* for a high. And I HATE cold weather. Might just clean out my new CFC and get fittings for it then see what the weather is like friday. But it's tomorrow or friday. So I could get screwed and it be even colder. F-ing Winter.
Enough of my panziness, what's everyones limit.

Oh and my pipeline is dry and I have a 10G bath planned for the first time to bring me back up a little so it's an important brew day.

 

[Kershner_Ale]

Was - 20 F outside my house Sunday when I brewed up a batch. But I was inside the kitchen, does that still count?

 

[TeufelBrew]

Last brewday, woke up at 5:30 it was 27F. That was the high for the day. When I dumped the last of the hot chiller water, it was 17F. Coldest brewday so for, but I've only been at it for a year. Oh, and I did close the garage door down most of the way to hold some of the heat in.

 

[dutchboy62]

pull up your skirt and wipe. j/k I brewed my first outdoor batch yesterday and it was 24

 

[ifishsum]

Was - 20 F outside my house Sunday when I brewed up a batch. But I was inside the kitchen, does that still count?

That's me (except not quite that cold hehe). Brew outside? Nope. SWMBO usually works weekends so I take over the kitchen.

 

[jensenhill]

Brewed last saturday it was 10F with the outside wind howling. not a drop of water made to the street for the chiller froze the driveway up like a skating rink.

 

[drunkatuw]

I started my brew day last friday when it was 6 degrees out with a windchill of somewhere around -13. It was up to 17 degrees by the time I finished. But my garage was like a skating rink. Water froze within a minute of hitting the ground. I had to get a pipe wrench to get the hose off the faucet because I let it sit for 10 minutes while I fired up the turkey fryer to heat my sparge water.

This wasn't my coldest brew day though. Last year (Dec '07), I brewed when it was -10 in my garage with a windchill of -25. It took foooooorevvvver to bring 14 gals of wort to a boil that day.

 

[Bobby_M]

I brewed in 18F but wind protected in the garage. I wouldn't do it outside in the wind.

 

[IrregularPulse]

I'm thinking cleaning the garage tomorrow maybe so I'll have room to brew inside while sitting beside a kerosene heater. haha or just grabbing a pair and brewing. But kudos to all you Northpole Brewers!

Oh crap! SuperJail is coming on. What a cracked out show.

 

[FlyGuy]

I don't know if he takes the record for coldest brew day, but I am sure that Bradsul is up there for the most brews in the bitter cold.

See his pics (and cold weather equipment mods):

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/winter-brewing-outdoors-47031/

 

[CentralWABrewing]

That's me (except not quite that cold hehe). Brew outside? Nope. SWMBO usually works weekends so I take over the kitchen.

Booyah, my "weekend" is during the regular work week. So while the fiance(I don't have to use "SWMBO" yet) is at work, I am too....in a more fun way....but wait, it is 16F outside

 

[amishland]

I have brewed in the wind shielded garage in the 20 deg range.

It made it so hard to see the boil needed a flashlight to see past the steam. And using an IC was not easy. And I needed ice skates to get all my gear back into the house.

But i thought this looked cool

 

[Anthony_Lopez]

I brewed my Dubbel on a day that was about 10*F, however with the wind chill it was about -2*F. I agree, the steam coming off my sanke made it nearly impossible to get an idea of when I hit boil...

We also got about 2 feet of snow that day... Unlike you guys, we were actually OUTSIDE brewing. We went through nearly an entire propane tank keeping that 60 minute boil going.

 

[Rezilynt]

My coldest was 20 F without windchill. It just so happens that I chose that particular brew (Wee Heavy) to do a 2 hr boil. I was also doing 2 separate batches at the same time. I won't do that again as temp control was a bear.

 

[CentralWABrewing]

Nice "steam" pics, guys.

 

[Jester369]

I've brewed in single digits, but I cheat a bit. I heat my water and do the boil out in the garage, and use a flat wooden dolly to roll the kettle back and forth to the kitchen where I mash, sparge, etc.

 

[BeerPressure]

I'm brewing this weekend in a Buffalo, NY suburb basically. It'll be 20's... Hope there is no wind otherwise I'll have problems.

Mash inside, boil outside is the plan though.

 

[eriktlupus]

to all those who boil outside in winter here's a tip:
put your propane tank on a heating pad or bag your spent grains and set the tank on the bag, this keeps your tank from freezing and extends the life of a tank of fuel so you don't use a whole tank on only one brew.

 

[mklawz]

I brewed the Sunday before Xmas, it was -6 w/o windchill -26 with windchill. The hardest part is indeed all that steam. Cant tell if a boil over is coming!

I was leaving town for Xmas and wanting to get something fermenting. Is it so wrong???

 

[jacksonbrown]

Wisco, baby! It was in the teens this past weekend when I brewed. But I work in the garage with the door 3/4 shut and only go out there to add hops and stir. Coldest so far has been 8. Brrrr! Makes it hard to see your wort with all that steam.

 

[lamarguy]

Ha...Coldest ever - 38F (in a garage). And that was way too cold for me!

 

[BeerPressure]

Well I may not be brewing this weekend after all. Been snowing rather hard today and the LHBS is mysteriously closed, the guy must not have been able to make it in.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Well it is 30 (feels like is 23).
Just started my mash 15 minutes ago. Nailed my temps exactly without even preheating my cooler. Just input the cooler temp to the software as is. Beer Smith Rocks so hard! SO in 45 minutes I will be vorluaffing (forgot this step last batch) and sparging. I hope I have enough propane for the boil. My first 10G Batch. I'm so excited that I'm going to have basically 2 batches after one brew day. Never again will I settle for 5 Gallons at once! Unless I'm doing a big beer. This 20lbs is or is VERY CLOSE to the max to my mashtuns limit.

edit* And I am 100% outside. Got a deep freeze Sleeping bag wrapped around my mash tun. It usually holds temps very well, but it was sitting there within a few steps and arms reach, so why not!

 

[BOBTHEukBREWER]

I heard of someone brewing at minus 40, don't know if he meant centigrade or fahrenheit though.....

 

[IrregularPulse]

either way holy crap. Thats the day to just go buy a few cases. Unless he was indoors. I'm just going to try and plan on doing 3-4 10G batches in like October/November. That should hold me over until March!

 

[ThirstyHobbit]

Yea, my first AG day was about 25 F. It was cold, but it worked. The wort sure chilled quickly. I didn't need to use any additional equipment. I DID wrap a blanket around my cooler so it would hold heat better. Make sure you pre-heat your mash tun or cooler, so you loose less heat-

 

[artbrewer]

just finished up brewing a 5 gal. batch of centennial blonde....biermunchers excellent recipe....the temp tonight in CNY is 11 degrees above zero.
all went well and it is in the fermenter.

 

[IrregularPulse]

congrats Art, it's a nice feeling when it's all done. My back always kills me so much for the next couple days, but it's worth it when its ready. Nothing like 10 Gallons sitting in the Furnace Room. Plus the two 1 Gallon batches I did extract inside yesterday showing a buddy how.

 

[cee3]

I heard of someone brewing at minus 40, don't know if he meant centigrade or fahrenheit though.....

Funny, -40 is the temp where farenheit meets centigrade!

 

[Medo]

Ahoy hoy,
Not that I was brewing outside, but it was -51 below outside when i brewed my last batch a few days ago. Thats interior Alaska. Dont fret though, its up to a balmy -16 below. Went back to my insulated over shirt instead of the arctic parka. Why it should be 30 above in a few days, might have to do an outdoor batch just for fun....
A great day to you all!

 

[bradsul]

I don't know if he takes the record for coldest brew day, but I am sure that Bradsul is up there for the most brews in the bitter cold.

See his pics (and cold weather equipment mods):

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/winter-brewing-outdoors-47031/

As you say I don't think I'll win any records for coldest. I think my coldest brew day was -17C/1F (-33C/-27F with windchill). That's not even considered cold in some parts of Canada and the US.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

The last couple years in a row I brewed when they canceled school because of cold. Both days were about -15F without the wind chill. Roughly the same conditions as the day of the Ice Bowl. I figure if Bart Starr and company can go play football in that weather, I can put on my Carhartts and brew. Besides, I've gone ice fishing in colder than that, so why not brew?

 

[MTBREWDOG]

-30 F here the other weekend when I made a batch.

Cold works in favor though when lagering. Although it's been up in the +40F range here lately. It needs to get colder damn it!