For those of you who brew outside

[bennyd]

I'm planning on moving outside to brew once the weather starts to take a turn for the better. I'll be doing extract batches and will probably try some full boils if I can get my head wrapped around the whole hops utilization issue.

But I was wondering. As careful as everyone is regarding sanitization, do you do the entire process outside? Does anyone cool the wort and move back inside to finish up? I know it's going to be difficult to move around five gallons of wort......I figured that the entire process was done outside, just checking.


On a side note:
Everyone here was right. Waiting is the hardest part. My Nut Brown has been in the bottle for about 5 days and I'm going out of my mind to try one. Honey Bee Ale is in secondary, I'm a little worried about this one. The OG was very low when I racked.

 

[jdp]

After I chill the wort, I head inside to finish up. I don't have too much trouble carrying 5 gallon batches inside, and my brewkettle only has a couple of inches of freeboard.

Stick one of those ales in the freezer, in about a half hour, pour it into a glass and drink it. then wait about 4 of 5 more days, and do the same thing. continue and you will have a pretty good feel for why it is best to wait. You will probably be surpised how well they taste even when not fully conditioned, and even more suprised at how well they improve.

 

[BierMuncher]

Sanitation issues are not a real concern just because you're brewing outside. Especially this time of year when the likelihood of a june bug dropping in your cooling wort is slim.

I brewed many a batch in my garage before building the brewshop in the basement.

Cool your wort where you boiled it. Don't move boiling wort. Once cooled, it will be easier to move if you siphon into two separate buckets, transport and then mix back together. (It will help the aeration as well).

Don't go overboard worrying about hop utilization. I'd suggest you get your hands on Beersmith or some other brewing program. That will help guide you to the right amounts of hops and timing of additions. If you don't have that...again...don't sweat it. Maybe just dial back your hops additions by 10% or so.

 

[dracus]

I've been doing the mash indoors since the smaller volumes of water can be heated on my stove.

I then boil outdoors.

I throw the chiller in my pot outside but I bring the pot with a friends help inside since I don't feel like running a hose through my living room. I'm looking into the idea of a pond pump for recirculating water later. I'm building a jamil whirlpool chiller now that I have a huge pot.

Of course I my case I have an assistant brewer and my pot is a 15g keggle so while heavy has handles.

+1 for the spliting the wort up.

I for one can't wait till its nice enough to do it all outside. No matter how I attempt to contain the kitties. I always end up with cat hair someplace I don't want it. Luckily that won't be an issue outside

 

[Grinder12000]

Was planning on brewing outside this weekend but - it'll be like 5F so maybe I'll indorr it again! Bad timing on mother nature.

 

[lunchbox]

Outside until cooled, then finish in the garage with the door open. Once it's cooled, it goes into the carboy. Then yeast is added and it's capped off with the tube.

 

[bennyd]

Thanks for the replies. The general consensus seems to be cool outside, then bring inside to finish up.

 

[jdp]

Thanks for the replies. The general consensus seems to be cool outside, then bring inside to finish up.

And really, the only reason I go inside is because it is cold and dark after I finish when I brew on the weekdays. I kind of have to hover around the pot during the boil to keep the stupid timer on my burner from shutting off the gas, but it is kind of like kicking back by a camp fire that smells like heavenly goodness.

When the boil is done, the heat is gone and I head inside. in the summer time, I do everything outside.

 

[trailblazer]

i do everything outside except fermenting. i have no problems with sanitization never have and proly never will. as long as your pretty anal about your sanitization. i dip my hand in everytime i touch the neck of the fermenter and dip everything that goes into the fermenter in starsan.

 

[verotik]

My first 3 batches have been outside. I do 4gal boils in my pot and its not very hard to carry it inside to strain and add to my carboy. Also, my pot has a timer also, but i've kinda disabled it by turning it to the max, then clamping a pair of vice grips to the timer knob. It is heavy enough to keep it from turning.

 

[mojotele]

I really only boil and chill outside then move inside mainly because I lack the properly elevated surfaces outside to drain my wort into the fermenter.

I'm going to be giving all grain a go soon, though, so I may have to spend more time outside heating my sparge water. I need to see if my stove has enough oomph to heat several gallons of water in my HLT. My stove is really bad, and I don't have a good, free circuit to use a heat stick.

 

[CarsonCE]

I'm a little different than most here. I am a full boil extract brewer and I warm my water and steep my grains outside. I then bring to a boil, add extract, and bring back to boiling. Then I shut off the gas and move (carefully) my 5+ gallons of hot wort about 15 feet to my gas stove inside. Then it starts boiling immediately and I'm good to go.

I did everything outside a couple times and had a little trouble with my burner blowing out (which was an easy fix with a wind screen). I prefer inside so i can do other things without worrying about my wort.

The only sanitation problem I've had outside was one of the times I did the entire boil and chill with my wort chiller outside. I was doing a honey wheat last fall and a ****-load of bees swarmed my brew pot. I hate bees so I let them at it for a while, but then had to run out there, turn off the water, pull out the wort chiller, and carry the thing inside. I had about 20 bees in my wort that I had to strain out. The beer is actually SWMBO's favorite (she doesn't know about all the dead bees). Let's keep this one a secret, okay internet?

 

[boralyl]

I do the grain steeping and boiling outside but carry it inside to chill it since I don't have a hose outside to hook up my wort chiller to. I've only made one batch but it turned out good with no sanitation issues.

 

[wyzazz]

I'll be brewing a barleywine outside tonight, it was 1* this morning when I left for work.

 

[david_42]

Nope, I run the cooled wort into the fermenter outside. The burner is just tall enough and moving the fermenter is easier than moving the kettle.

 

[CarsonCE]

While we're talking about brewing outside, why is it ok for sunlight to hit our wort at this time, but not later?

 

[3bals]

Be extra careful while carrying your full brew kettle, espesially when it's still hot.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/homebrewing-can-dangerous-131154/

 

[springer]

Thanks for the replies. The general consensus seems to be cool outside, then bring inside to finish up.

I do everything outside even this time of year . If you take precautions then the risk is very minimal ... I would gather to say that the chance of infection can be higher inside specially if you have forced hot air heat or A/C . Lots more crap floating around .

free fall into the carboy have never had an infected batch

 

[wyzazz]

It takes a whole buttload (technical brewing term) of sunlight (UV Light) on your brews for a long time before you get skunky beer. The little bit you get while brewing outside wouldn't affect anything.

 

[RogueVassar]

Be extra careful while carrying your full brew kettle, espesially when it's still hot.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/homebrewing-can-dangerous-131154/

The earlier post about bringing the hot wort in made me nervous. Even so, your post and pictures were even worse than the scenario I imagined. Yikes!

 

[Mike M]

For 95% of my brews - I brew, cool and transfer outside. With proper sanitation I have no worries.