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Ok... but have you had this problem?

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Dougan

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Joined
Aug 14, 2008
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Location
Stevens Point, WI
OK, so I brewed a batch today. Did everything well, finished boil, and took advantage of the -9 F temperatures outside for cooling, and put my wort on the balcony outside my 2nd floor apartment.

So when I tried to open the door later, turn the knob... nothing. Door latch froze to the doorframe and the cheap knob my landlord had put on the door busted.

Had to take the door off of the hinges. It was so frozen to the frame that I needed to use a crowbar (Always knew I'd get to use that someday). Saved the wort though. Just figured I'd share. Putting the door on was a nightmare because it was about 80 in my apartment (Ever try boiling gallons of water for an hour in a small apartment?) and -9 outside and there was just clouds of steam everywhere, and my hands kept sticking to the hinges because they were frozen. :)
 
bwuauahahah!!

You should have taken pics of the whole process.


I had the camera ready but once the door came off and the steamy cold came I decided to scrap the documentation plan in favor of the 'get the effing door back on so i can feel my face again' plan.

I can still take a picture of the door if you'd like :)
 
I never had a door freeze shut, but we had to take shelter in a cheap motel on a road trip when I wicked storm came up. The next morning, all the rain pounding on the door made the jam swell and we couldn't get out.
 
I had the camera ready but once the door came off and the steamy cold came I decided to scrap the documentation plan in favor of the 'get the effing door back on so i can feel my face again' plan.

I can still take a picture of the door if you'd like :)

It's too bad you didn't have a few buddies over to point, laugh and take documentation (pics) :cross:
 
OK, so I brewed a batch today. Did everything well, finished boil, and took advantage of the -9 F temperatures outside for cooling, and put my wort on the balcony outside my 2nd floor apartment.

So when I tried to open the door later, turn the knob... nothing. Door latch froze to the doorframe and the cheap knob my landlord had put on the door busted.

Had to take the door off of the hinges. It was so frozen to the frame that I needed to use a crowbar (Always knew I'd get to use that someday). Saved the wort though. Just figured I'd share. Putting the door on was a nightmare because it was about 80 in my apartment (Ever try boiling gallons of water for an hour in a small apartment?) and -9 outside and there was just clouds of steam everywhere, and my hands kept sticking to the hinges because they were frozen. :)


All that steam is what caused the freeze. I had similar problems while stationed at Ft Drum years ago. Next time you do a brew, during the boil, leave the door open.
 
All that steam is what caused the freeze. I had similar problems while stationed at Ft Drum years ago. Next time you do a brew, during the boil, leave the door open.

The issue is more that the door takes a beefy kick for i to shut fully. Otherwise it doesn't match up right with the weatherstripping. So there's airflow going in there which whips up just a ton of condensation. It's not the first time it's froze a little, but it is the first time it's froze like this.
 
Ha! Didja notice that most of the advice given you in this thread was from below the Mason-Dixon line??? They wouldn't know the true meaning of cold if someone locked them in an ice cream freezer. Sorry about your ordeal, but we do what we must when it concerns our beer. What did you brew, anyway?
 
Ha! Didja notice that most of the advice given you in this thread was from below the Mason-Dixon line??? They wouldn't know the true meaning of cold if someone locked them in an ice cream freezer. Sorry about your ordeal, but we do what we must when it concerns our beer. What did you brew, anyway?

Haha, yeah, good observation. The wort seems to have survived and that's the important part. Made an APA out of extract and mini mashed some munich in there too to see what would happen. I was concerned that the extended cooling time might have got me infected but so far it seems to be fermenting well.
 
Ha! Didja notice that most of the advice given you in this thread was from below the Mason-Dixon line??? They wouldn't know the true meaning of cold if someone locked them in an ice cream freezer. Sorry about your ordeal, but we do what we must when it concerns our beer. What did you brew, anyway?

Hahaha, I may be from AZ......but my advice originated at Ft Drum, in upstate NY, which may possibly be the coldest place in the known universe.....the most miserable for sure. The 6th LID from Alaska sent it's troops to our cold weather warfare school........because Drum is colder and has more snow most of the year.

I ventured the steam suggestion because we ran a humidifier in the winter. Discovered that the steam was condensing around the crappily installed back door (lowest bidder housing) and forming an ice seal, and that sucker would not come open for nothing. I use to complain to the housing maintenance office about the thing, their solution was to put vegetable oil all around the door seals. I never tried that, so can't vouch for it.....I got tired of dealing with it so just pointed a space heater at it all winter;-)
 
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