Frozen Garden Hose

[betch]

So I am going to brew on Saturday and today I had to leave my garden hose inside to thaw. Last brew day the hose was frozen and I was not able to chill the brew and pitch till next day. Any other great cold brew stories?

 

[Netflyer]

It's funny, the last time I was in Flagstaff, probably 20 years ago, it was really snowy and cold... in fact I don't think I've ever been there in the summer months..

My normal hose was frozen a few weeks ago when I brewed while it was 17F out. Wind chills were in the negatives and my outside spigot was frozen with enough ice to block any water that might have made it from the inside to the outside of the house. I had to run the garden hose through the house to the kitchen sink to chill the batch. It's fun to brew in the cold, get's the blood movin'...

 

[tedski]

I used to go outside on brew morning and pile up the snow next to the spot I would brew. After the boil, I would use the snow in a bucket to recirc my immersion chiller with a pond pump. One day, I go outside, pile up the snow and get brewing. 45 minutes into the boil, I look over and there is about one shovel's worth of snow left. The sun had melted it all. Pipes were all still shut off with the low point drains open. I had to get the wife to run to the local gas station and pick up a bunch of ice. What a headache.

 

[Coastarine]

I had to take a hairdryer to my rig last time, but if you do it with the valves open and hooked up to the spigot, once a little flow gets going the whole things thaws quickly.