Too cold to brew?

[Anderbrau]

I really wanted to have a batch in the fermenter by last weekend, but sick kids and a busy schedule have kept that from happening. It is now 7 degrees outside. Does anyone have advice on brewing outside in extreme cold? I am using a Blichman Top Tier propane burner. My garage is off limits, as it is at the bottom of a hill about 100 ft from my house with no water source. I am stuck on the patio.

 

[3PegBrew]

No rules brewing. I only recommend getting some sort of wind guard for the burners if you are outside. Trick to brewing and staying warm is to have some whiskey....Once you start your runnings from your Mash, put some in your cup. Add some whiskey, you are set.

 

[beertroll]

At 7 degrees, you'll have a very hard time getting the propane to vaporize. At that temp, keeping yourself warm is less of a problem than keeping your burner going. I've heard that putting the cylinder in a tub of warm water will help keep things going, but I haven't tried it myself yet. Continuously shaking the cylinder also works, and it helps keep you warm. It makes for a very long, dull brew day, though.

 

[DrWill]

At 7 degrees, you'll have a very hard time getting the propane to vaporize. At that temp, keeping yourself warm is less of a problem than keeping your burner going. I've heard that putting the cylinder in a tub of warm water will help keep things going, but I haven't tried it myself yet.

I never even thought of this but it makes perfect sense. I've put off my brew day until Wednesday. It's -10°c out right now. It's supposed to get up to about -2°c on Wednesday. Thanks!

 

[conneryis007]

+1 propane tank up to "shoulder" in warm water!
The cold will also make waiting to come to temp take longer and you will loose more heat than you are used to through the walls of your mash tun and tubing!

 

[TNGabe]

Nothing helpful, just want to say thanks for making me feel better about brewing in the 20s today.

 

[c_osbourn]

Build a heated brew shed for next year!!!!!

 

[brewtus_]

Nothing helpful, just want to say thanks for making me feel better about brewing in the 20s today.

Same here! Although I try not to brew when the temps are in the 20's, I'm planning a batch this afternoon with a forecasted high of 27.

Worst part of brewing in the winter is the wind. Best part is free snow to use in the wort chiller.

 

[Anderbrau]

maybe I'll bring the propane tank into the basement for a little while before I start, then wrap a blanket around it or something. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[BansheeRider]

Stove top brewing?

 

[tokerlund]

I have brewed in -20* and even colder with windchill. Protect your burner from the wind. Insulate if you can. Mash inside. Be prepared for a slow start and a long brew day.

I swear, last year, every time I had an opportunity to brew it would drop 20*. Eventually I did a 7.5 gallon brew in my new stainless pot on my ceramic top stove and it actually got a rolling boil going pretty well. I was surprised. When I had done the same thing in my 5 gallon aluminum pot, I could barley get it to boil.

My advice would be to save cold fingers and toes as well as propane cost and find a way to do it stove top. That is my plan for January - March this year.

 

[Hackwood]

I live in Phoenix AZ. WTH is this "Cold" thing you guys are talking about???

 

[scubasteve03]

I live in Phoenix AZ. WTH is this "Cold" thing you guys are talking about???

Haha I live in southern Arizona and I too am curious about this cold weather that they are talking about.

 

[DrWill]

My advice would be to save cold fingers and toes as well as propane cost and find a way to do it stove top. That is my plan for January - March this year.

That's our plan as well, but I'm trying to squeeze in one more outdoor brew before the freeze really hits. Once winter comes on earnest, we will do our extract brews for the year.

 

[iaefebs]

If you are using any hose keep them in the house when not in use. Take them outside when needed, drain and put back into the house till needed again.

 

[BrewerTom]

I brewed up a Berliner Weisse yesterday and I the high at my place was 16 degrees. It was cold, but I was in the garage out of the wind. I brought the mash tun inside will mashing to keep it warm. It took quiet awhile to get the wort up to boil.

 

[CA_Mouse]

Haha I live in southern Arizona and I too am curious about this cold weather that they are talking about.

I live in So CA.... I would wonder that too, except it was 35F when I started by brew this morning... Took an extra 20 minutes or so to get it to a roiling boil, increased my boil from 60 to 75 and still didn't get the boil off I needed. It's okay though, Baltic Chocolate Vanilla Porter with an SG/OG of 1.069 instead of 1.078. I can live with that.

 

[HotRodJosh]

I bought one of those propane patio heaters when they were on sale a Home Depot. It makes it tolerable out in the cold.

 

[DrWill]

If you are using any hose keep them in the house when not in use. Take them outside when needed, drain and put back into the house till needed again.

Good advice. Mine get drained and hung in the garage at the end of each session.

 

[Anderbrau]

Here's my plan: 1) warm up the propane tank 2)start the partial mash on the stove top indoors 3) get the fire pit going on the patio 4) drink a few room temp hb porters while I'm out there. It will be about 25* F when I start today, which is a lot better than 7* yesterday.

Also, I'm going to look into buying or building some sort of moveable wind screen.

 

[grathan]

I make short trips out to the kettle just to add hops, then right back inside. Actually I do this when it's warm out as well..


Converted an unused shower on the lower level for cleaning. The showerhead was 0.5"Npt so it would be pretty easy to set up.

 

[SEndorf]

I really wanted to have a batch in the fermenter by last weekend, but sick kids and a busy schedule have kept that from happening. It is now 7 degrees outside. Does anyone have advice on brewing outside in extreme cold? I am using a Blichman Top Tier propane burner. My garage is off limits, as it is at the bottom of a hill about 100 ft from my house with no water source. I am stuck on the patio.

Brewing outside at 7 degrees seems like a huge PITA.
For your garage, you might consider a 100' garden hose for your wort chiller. Home depot sells them for about 40 bucks. Then add a Dyna Glo Propane heater I use this to brew in my uninsulated garage. Last weekend was 9 degrees and I was toasty.
Finally, for your mash / boil get a couple 5 gallon jugs of RO water (or whatever water you use). Should be good to go.

 

[vNmd]

Tonight I learned that the hose for my chiller that I leave laying on the ground will freeze solid in 25 degree weather. Who knew ;-) I didn't think about it until I turned the water on and nothing happened. Oh well, it took about 10 minutes in the tub to thaw and I was back in business.

 

[wstev]

Bring it on up to SD, I'll let u use my garage lol.

 

[bobeer]

If you are using any hose keep them in the house when not in use. Take them outside when needed, drain and put back into the house till needed again.

+1000 on this! My issue usually is getting the water to come out of the faucet. Last winter wasn't too bad here but we've already have had days in the low 20's this week.

 

[CA_Mouse]

+1000 on this! My issue usually is getting the water to come out of the faucet. Last winter wasn't too bad here but we've already have had days in the low 20's this week.

I remember living up in Northern California years ago. we had to leave water on a constant drip to keep the pipes from freezing. Had a small hose that was dripping into a drain can every night for the outside spigots. I don't miss those days in the least!

 

[DrWill]

So we had to thaw the chiller with boiling water and had some trouble with mash temp because the tun was freezing, but aside from that we had a great brewday in spite of the -4°C temps.

 

[dracus]

I second the get some water from the store and definitely mash inside. You can put your wort into a bucket and take out to the patio. Just take out the first running and then the batches unless you're fly then well take out the whole thing.

Also, leave the "tank" inside and close the patio door on it. You'll loose a bit of house heat from the door crack but filling up a tub with warm water is a SERIOUS pita.

You also could easily get a LONG hose. We use a 50ft hose for ours ran from the kitchen.

I think its VERY important to plan your drainage of the water at the temps you're talking about any runoff will turn into ice fairly quickly ad your don't want to turn in the patio into an ice skating rink.