Rant - having the AHA National Homebrew Competition in the spring sucks

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MNDan

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It just kinda blows for those of us who live in northern states and brew in our garages. There is no way I can brew a nice fresh batch here in MN for any of the smaller styles. Unless I want to create a skating rink at the end of my driveway and freeze my ass off. Grumble. Why not have it in the fall?
 
It just kinda blows for those of us who live in northern states and brew in our garages. There is no way I can brew a nice fresh batch here in MN for any of the smaller styles. Unless I want to create a skating rink at the end of my driveway and freeze my ass off. Grumble. Why not have it in the fall?

Because then those of us who live in hot climates have to sit in 110 degree heat over a hot kettle. I don't know why, but spring is brewing season.
 
It just kinda blows for those of us who live in northern states and brew in our garages. There is no way I can brew a nice fresh batch here in MN for any of the smaller styles. Unless I want to create a skating rink at the end of my driveway and freeze my ass off. Grumble. Why not have it in the fall?

Why not? When I lived in Michigan, we always brewed in our garage in the winter. It's not MN, but it did approach 0 F. Space heater and the boil kettle... It wasn't cold for long.
 
If it was in the fall, you'd have to brew in the summer to age many styles correctly before the competition. That means more time invested in keeping fermentation temperatures down.
So, its 'easier' for most to grit their teeth through a cold brew day.
 
Where do you send your chilling water? And how do you clean stuff? Wish I had a floor drain - that would help. Spring won't be here for two more months, sadly.
 
I brewed in -15F weather in early January. I clean my stuff inside in the kitchen and just plonk the kettle in snow for the wort to cool down. No DMS, brilliant clarity and hop flavour/aroma. My last 5 batches all were below 1.045 OG too.
 
Well, you could always do smaller competition batches indoors. Scale down to 2 or three gallons. When I discovered the joys of a Fargo winter, I immediately decided that I would start brewing in the basement.
 
I brew in my MN garage, I just pipe the other end of the chiller into the snowbank in my back yard and I have a utility sink in my basement that I do all my cleaning in after I dump the hops and trub in the snow as well.
 
I am not a big fan of brewing outdoors (no garage) in 30°-40° in the freakin' rain but that is the Northwest, keeps things green and fresh!

A spring and fall competition would be nice too but the logistics would be way too much to manage.

I think I am going to start planning in the fall for the next years NHC.
 
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