Winter Brewing?

[MacGruber]

Hey everyone. With the winter season on the horizon, I was wondering what you all did to brew. I'm new to AG and am loving it, but quickly realized that it's going to be hard to brew in the extremely cold weather. I simply brew out back of my house in the yard. Do you guys grin and bear it, or do you move inside?

 

[djt17]

Hey everyone. With the winter season on the horizon, I was wondering what you all did to brew. I'm new to AG and am loving it, but quickly realized that it's going to be hard to brew in the extremely cold weather. I simply brew out back of my house in the yard. Do you guys grin and bear it, or do you move inside?

Last winter I planned my brew days to avoid the bitter cold (less than 0°F). This year I plan to build a heat stick to assist my gas stove.

 

[user 21663]

I setup the burner on the outside deck, but do my mash and sparge inside. Once the boil gets going and danger of boilover has passed, I only go outside to add additions. Anyday below 20F, I pass and drink what I have.

 

[HopHead24]

Build your brewery inside!!! I'm done brewing outside in MN in the winter!!! It's almost impossible to see into the boil kettle with all the steam when the average temp all winter is hovering around a balmy 0 degrees. I'm in the midst of getting my B10 completed in my basement running off of natural gas. I'm waiting on a plumber to come run the gas line for me. If it takes any longer I'm going to do it myself.

 

[Revvy]

In the winter I brew a lot of 2.5 gallon AG test batches on my stove. And last year I made many great 5 gallon batches where I used the dilution feature of beersmit, and made a 2.5-3 high grav wort, over compensating for hop utilization. And topping just like in an extract with grain recipe. I did everything from lagers to ipas this way, and many of them scred high in contests.

 

[JohnnyO]

I'm waiting on a plumber to come run the gas line for me. If it takes any longer I'm going to do it myself.

That is definitely the most scary statement I've heard in a while. I certainly hope your plumber gets back to you soon.

I do a lot of my work indoors during the winter, such as the heating of strike water, mashing/sparging. I do my boil outdoors on the driveway. To battle the cold, I will sometimes back the SUV up to about five feet from my brew kettle, open the back hatch and sit in there with the car off. It might not be warm in there, but at least it cuts down on the wind chill.

If it is cold, windy and raining, I'll pull the mustang out from its slumber in the garage and brew in there with the garage door mostly closed.

If it's snowing, I'll brave it. I'll also use the snow to help with chilling. Simply build a mound of snow and place the brew kettle in it, and run the IC too.

 

[IrregularPulse]

I have a baby due in Novemeber.....so I likely won't be brewing this winter. And that is fine with me. Someday I'll have an indoor brewery and it won't matter (moving sometime between now and the next 5 years). Until then the garage is being converted

 

[HopHead24]

That is definitely the most scary statement I've heard in a while. I certainly hope your plumber gets back to you soon.

LOL yeah it scares me too. I don't think I'll be doing it myself!!!

 

[Randar]

That is definitely the most scary statement I've heard in a while. I certainly hope your plumber gets back to you soon.

Plumbers don't have some kind of magic fairy dust to prevent gas leaks. It's really not all that difficult if you are detail oriented, can take detailed measurements for pipe lengths and are generally handy and thorough.

 

[Randar]

Hey everyone. With the winter season on the horizon, I was wondering what you all did to brew. I'm new to AG and am loving it, but quickly realized that it's going to be hard to brew in the extremely cold weather. I simply brew out back of my house in the yard. Do you guys grin and bear it, or do you move inside?

Walk-out basement and I set up the burner just outside the door in a protected landing at the bottom of the stairwell. I can monitor temps and observe, meanwhile my mash and all the rest of myt equipment is inside, within a few feet of the door and about 10 feet from my sink area (for CFC and general easy water access)

 

[Bombo80]

I am fortunate enough to have a breezeway just off the kitchen. I just setup my turkey burner out there, and crack open a door and a window to let out the excess steam and heat. Otherwise the rest of the mashing and sparging takes palce in the kitchen.

 

[HopHead24]

I'm nervous about taping into the main line. There is a plug that I could remove and add and elbow with a shut off valve. But I need to run to another room about 70 feet in the ceiling and down to the B10 which by the way I did plumb together with black pipe. I need to pressure test with a compressor for leaks soon.

My exhaust hood is another story.

 

[wyzazz]

Bunch of little girls here in this thread, I throw on my Ice Fishing gear and brew outside or in the garage. I usually have some steak or something going on the grill at the same time to help beat the cold.

 

[cactusgarrett]

In the garage - all year 'round. In the winter, i open the garage door a little more and get the fire pit roaring.

 

[chicagobrew]

I'm with wyzazz. I brew outside all year round and I love it. Maybe it was growing up in Michigan, but the colder and uglier the better. My favorite days are where we get more than 12" of snow. Just throw on some extra clothes and switch from homebrew to whiskey.

 

[Randar]

Bunch of little girls here in this thread, I throw on my Ice Fishing gear and brew outside or in the garage. I usually have some steak or something going on the grill at the same time to help beat the cold.

LOL! I get to sit in a 68 degree basement in the heat of summer and a nice 64 degree basement in the bitter of winter.

 

[Mischief_Brewing]

I'm with wyzazz, chicagobrew, and cactusgarrett. Out in the garage with some good warm clothing on, and a small electric heater to warm up the ingredients that are hard to pour when near frozen (and my hands every so often).

 

[devilishprune]

My secret? Live somewhere where it's not that cold in the winter.

 

[zman]

I have a smaller sized kitchen and mash in the mud room. i set my folding table up or set the mash tun on the chest freezer. I heat up my water and do my boils outside on the propane burner. The nice thing about winter brewing is getting the wort down to pitching temp in 10 minutes. The draw back is cleaning. My MT is a 72qt cooler and I boil in a 42qt Polarware kettle.

I think I am going to follow Revvy's idea of some smaller stove top experimental batches. I acquired some 2.8gal carboys. I could actually do a few stove top batches a week.

 

[cactusgarrett]

The hardest part of winter brewing is getting water out of frozen external faucets - only source of non-softened water I have.

 

[HopHead24]

Bunch of little girls here in this thread, I throw on my Ice Fishing gear and brew outside or in the garage.

Wow this is coming from the guy who's average Jan temp doesn't go below 20 degrees. That's shorts weather!!
Up here in the 43 parallel our average is 0 not to mention the sub zero weeks. Propane turns to gel here in the tundra!!! I prefer indoors!!!

 

[wyzazz]

Wow this is coming from the guy who's average Jan temp doesn't go below 20 degrees. That's shorts weather!!
Up here in the 43 parallel our average is 0 not to mention the sub zero weeks. Propane turns to gel here in the tundra!!! I prefer indoors!!!

My last winter brew session it was -2F so I camped out in the garage, but that was after 3 hours of Ice Fishing on one of the local lakes. I'm a bit weird though I guess, I really like the cold weather. I hide from the 80F in my living room when the Wood Burner is roaring, my Wife huddles next to it in a sweatshirt and says she's cold.

I'll say it again, you're a little girl.

 

[HopHead24]

Only 3hrs of ice fishing? I bet you walked out on the lake too. We drive miles out on the lake and stay the weekend!!!

 

[wyzazz]

Only 3hrs of ice fishing? I bet you walked out on the lake too. We drive miles out on the lake and stay the weekend!!!

Lol, I'm jealous! It doesn't get cold enough for long enough for us to drive out on to the lakes here. And yes only 3 hours, just enough time to relax a bit and catch enough fish to fry on the griddle during the brewday. Caught a couple of nice Walleye that day! :rockin:

 

[HopHead24]

LOL who said anything about fishing. It's a party MAN!! Put those kegs in 4 holes half way cut in the ice and party. Don't have to listen to SWMBO! No Questions...NOTHIN!!! We have slot limits on Walleye's up here too much work. Get the Walleye at the store!!

Cheers

 

[rico567]

Plumbers don't have some kind of magic fairy dust to prevent gas leaks. It's really not all that difficult if you are detail oriented, can take detailed measurements for pipe lengths and are generally handy and thorough.

The "magic fairy dust" is a squirt of dishwashing liquid in water. Drizzle it on a gas union, and if there are any leaks, you get bubbles. Done a lot of propane connections, and this works. Also for checking for leaks from time to time.

 

[avidhomebrewer]

Hey everyone. With the winter season on the horizon, I was wondering what you all did to brew. I'm new to AG and am loving it, but quickly realized that it's going to be hard to brew in the extremely cold weather. I simply brew out back of my house in the yard. Do you guys grin and bear it, or do you move inside?

I pretty much grin and bear it, living in Wisconsin. I brew in my garage and shoot for the 'nicer' winter days, which don't come often. What I have been doing lately, even during summer, is to heat up my water the night before to about 180, mill grains, and mash overnight in my coolers. If it is summer, I'll leave the coolers in the garage; winter they come in the house. It saves me about 3 hours of cold temps come winter.

 

[bctdi]

Here in GA we look forward to winter as "brewing season" because summer is pretty hot to deal with a full kettle of hot wort and cooling wort also presents a problem...but I`ll put in my 2 cents....when it gets cold here and I`m brewing I just make a big old fire in my outdoor fire pit.That really helps, but I have 1 more suggestion .......http://www.masterheaters.com/Desa_images/bng150t.jpg

 

[SamuraiSquirrel]

Illinois brewer here!

I can't wait for winter brewing season again! Granted I have a garage to provide some wind protection but I always leave the door all the way open.

Crank up the burner, pull up a chair, have some big beers on hand, and you are set.

Beats the heck out of sweating when it's 90-100 outside and you have a propane burner blasting away.

 

[CDbrews]

winter brewing is the best, dress warm and stand close to the burner and your fine, though brewing in the garage cuts down on the wind... havent had a cold enough day that i had to close the garage door yet chilling is great because it goes so fast and i dont have to bother with temp control because the basement stays at the perfect temp... i brew more in the winter because i have less things filling up the brew day