Most Extreme Brew Session

[agroff383]

Hey all, as it gets colder in the Northeast here, I am still brewing in my carport of course, but it made me wonder, some of you live in much more extreme climates and conditions in the world. I just would like to hear some stories of the craziest, most extreme conditions that you have successfully or unsuccessfully brewed a batch of beer in.

It was windy last Saturday here in southern PA and even brewing in the carport got a bit sketchy. I was thinking, some of y'all up in Michigan, do you curtail the winter brews? Brew on the stove? Doesn't it get like -30 and you guys are in shorts in Minnesota?

Basically I just want to hear some crazy ass stories about how you brewed in the woods during a thunderstorm or on your back porch during a sleet storm.

I know when I am ready to brew its going to happen come hell or high water, and those of you that can only brew outside, I am sure you get that way too.

 

[cruckin78]

I got nothin bro...I'm in Florida LOL

 

[passedpawn]

Somewhere on the web there are pictures and maybe video of some hardcores that climbed a mountain and brewed. They then carried the wort back down. It was pretty seriously insane, but for some reason Google is failing me now.

I think I posted a link here at some point, but can't find that either.

 

[japhroaig]

seriously, one time i had to brew in 41F degree weather!!!!

... no, i got nothin'

 

[CDbrews]

I tend to pass on brewing when it is snowing heavily but when it is winter i just stand really close to the burner

 

[iparks81]

brewed outside when it was 116F out...that was pretty stupid hot, regretted starting that brew day Immediately....is that extreme...maybe not, but dumb..sure.

 

[zanemoseley]

What gets me is not necessarily the cold but having to screw around with cleaning the entire time. Having your hands in contact with cold water while it's cold out is an entirely different matter than just being outside while its cold. In TN it still get fairly cool, a brew day can still linger in the 20's or low 30's which is enough to test your will to brew. I can't imagine the -30's, I think I'd just brew on the stove.

 

[curlyfat]

This last winter I had a day planned to brew that was my only chance in about a month. The high temp that day was -20. That's right the high was negative twenty degrees Fahrenheit.

Thank God for propane burners. I didn't use the plate chiller (no way in hell I was going to hook up a hose!). I left the kettle out side in a snow drift and came back an hour later to find it under 50*F! I actually let my beer warm up before I pitched the yeast.

Any time you have to wear Carharts to brew, it's TOO G**DAMN COLD!

The beer turned out awesome, BTW!

 

[Zamial]

The -30 thing seems to loose its uniqueness when you factor in common sense. I live in a region you speak of. I have a garage and heaters. It has decent ventilation but nothing dedicated. I can get the garage to a toasty temp and brew until I am done. The people here are just used to the temps.

 

[EricCSU]

I brewed two batches in August in Austin. It was 84 degrees at 0700 when I started and 104 degrees at 1600 when I finished. My hose water was 85 degrees. That was pretty extreme.

Eric

 

[1990dtgl98]

Hey all, as it gets colder in the Northeast here, I am still brewing in my carport of course, but it made me wonder, some of you live in much more extreme climates and conditions in the world. I just would like to hear some stories of the craziest, most extreme conditions that you have successfully or unsuccessfully brewed a batch of beer in.

Lancaster, eh? Marietta here. The craziest I brewed was on the back porch when we got that 20 or so inches of snow last winter. Didn't want to move the cars out of the garage to brew and possibly have to shovel around them, so I took it out back.

:cross::cross:

Dumb idea! It is fascinating to watch the snow pile up as high as the propane burner by the time everything is clean.

 

[Walker]

A few years ago, I brewed outside on a night when it was cold enough that every splash of water froze almost instantly on the deck. It got pretty goddamn dangerous out there by the time I was done. that's about it.

 

[CoalCracker]

Brewed on a 23 degree day with a winchill of 0. That sucked. Needless to say getting that wort to a boil was a b****.