Winter brewing

[Teromous]

I used to mash and boil outside in my back yard, then close the sliding glass door. I really like the idea of mashing indoors. I didn't think of that and that's an awesome idea. I like brewing during winter because it makes cooling off the wort easier. You can really just put it in the snow.

 

[RMitch]

I used to mash and boil outside in my back yard, then close the sliding glass door. I really like the idea of mashing indoors. I didn't think of that and that's an awesome idea. I like brewing during winter because it makes cooling off the wort easier. You can really just put it in the snow.

'Cept the snow melts away from the sides of the BK, and renders it useless of cooling.

 

[Northcalais40]

Not a tough guy or anything but as often as not, I'm working outside. When I'm not brewing on the weekends, I'm outside playing, skiing, climbing or hiking. Cold weather ends up being a pretty poor excuse for me. Mostly though I have a walk out basement, that makes me a lot tougher.

Some say there is no bad weather, only bad clothing. But mud season (and bug season for that matter) sucks no matter what your wearing. Plus sometimes it is just too damn cold to do anything.

 

[BrewerinBR]

I just brew in the kitchen...

 

[Teromous]

'Cept the snow melts away from the sides of the BK, and renders it useless of cooling.

Eh? Not really, I just make a pile and just keep pushing it onto it like they used to do with the old guns in WWII. It works fine and the cold air helps a lot.

 

[rustbucket]

right now i live with my mom at her house.. i brew in the garage while its really cold out.. but its a huge garage.. 3 car wide and 1 1/2 car deep... so i dont worry to much about CO. but the coldest i brewed was when it was about 8F out... it froze my garden hose solid once i turned it off in about 5 min.

 

[BigDaddyBrewing]

With a paddle in one hand and a fire extinguisher in the other, I brew in the kitchen and tell everyone to quit whining about the loud noise and low oxygen ("CRACK A WINDOW!!!"). The burner warms-up the house nicely and the fire department has only needed to be called twice.

 

[jaginger]

Eh? Not really, I just make a pile and just keep pushing it onto it like they used to do with the old guns in WWII. It works fine and the cold air helps a lot.

In my experience, it still takes a long time to get 5.5 gallons down to pitching temp with this method, due to the inefficiency of heat transfer. How long does it take you to get down to 65 deg? I love to brew in the winter in CT, but just haven't found a way to make the snow cooling work.

 

[cgg]

Living at 64° 50' 16" N, I've resigned myself to kitchen-based partial mash / extract brewing between November and February and AG brewing March through October. Fiddling with liquids and metal, propane reluctant to vaporize and such when temps regularly are colder than minus 20ºF takes much of the fun out of brewing AG. Maybe if I'd gotten into this hobby in my 20's I'd feel differently about it. Closing in on 60, comfort seems more important than pushing limits.

 

[Teromous]

In my experience, it still takes a long time to get 5.5 gallons down to pitching temp with this method, due to the inefficiency of heat transfer. How long does it take you to get down to 65 deg? I love to brew in the winter in CT, but just haven't found a way to make the snow cooling work.

It's not extremely fast or anything but it works fine for me. I know it's probably not going to live up to the expectations of something like a plate chiller. I use a 15gal ss pot for my kettle and 5gal batches if it's any help.

 

[Carter1932]

After 15 years of doing only 10 gallon all grain batches I finally decided to make some extract batches as I wanted to take advantage of my cooler cellar to do some lagers this winter but didn't want to deal with brewing in the cold and handling water in freezing temps, thus my first partial boil extract batches.

Ended up doing two 5 gallon batches at same time; first time round two different Oktoberfest recipes w/ different yeast, and then a couple of weeks later I made a Vienna Lager and Munich Dunkel that were pitched on Oktoberfest's yeast cakes.

I've always sort of been a snob when it came to my preference for AG over extract. Never been a fan of brew kits. I've since learned that people can make award winning beer with extract, so I decided to give it a go.

Bottomline, these four beers rock! Very happy with the results, so it looks like I'll be doing the same this coming year from Dec through February.

So glad its warmer now. Going to do first AG recipe for the year this weekend.

 

[BigDaddyBrewing]

20 feet of 1/2" copper coiled tubing and some hoses and fittings to hook to your sink (about $40 bucks at Home Depot) will cool down 5.5 gals in 30 min with frequent stirring.