I just started my brewing journey and I'm already dreading winter. Ohio is cold as **** and I don't have a garage or anything. I don't *really* want to use my propane burner indoors, but I also don't want to give up brewing for 4 months b
I live in Maine so that's about half my year. Its actually the reason I switched over to using induction burners with SS 304 pots. Now I brew in the basement where it also stays cooler in the summer.
I just started my brewing journey and I'm already dreading winter. Ohio is cold as **** and I don't have a garage or anything. I don't *really* want to use my propane burner indoors, but I also don't want to give up brewing for 4 months b
I heat my water and mash in a cooler in the kitchen. I move outside on my deck to boil. I only stay outside to wait for a boil and any kettle additions. Other than that I sit inside watching from my sliding glass door. To cool I either do it at my sink, or in my garage with my wort chiller. I would say I spend less than an hour outside total.
Heating the water on the stove takes a little bit longer, but it is worth not having to stand outside in the middle of winter in Minnesota.
Do you have water in your garage? I'm dealing w/ some of the same issues as the OP, with the exception of having a 1 car detached garage, however, while it has power it does not have water. Currently I run an Immersion Chiller from my hose bib but that seems like a terrible plan in the winter if you want all your pipes to remain in tact. I have hose fitting on my laundry sink but that's in the basement down a flight of stairs and through several baby gates... less than ideal for transporting 5.5 gallons of near boiling wort.
Can you use a pump to recirculate cold water (boosted by the ice you've created by simply freezing water in the winter, outside) through the IC into a tub filled with ice and water?
Alternatively, does your hose bib have a no-freeze faucet? Mine has that so I can, and do, use my hose bib outside during the winter because when finished it will drain back to the part that's inside the heated section of the house. You have to make sure you disconnect the hose when done so it'll drain otherwise you can sometimes have the water left inside the faucet freeze on you. Then drain the hose and voila! You can use your outside hose bib.
My bib does not look like that unfortunately, just a standard hose, not a forward sealing like you have. I could do water and ice if I had a pump. I'm normally gravity only but I suppose I could use the sump pump I use for pumping water out of my garage when it floods... it already has a garden hose fitting and if I'm using a IC it doesn't need to be food safe right? Plus once we hit that part of the winter I can keep cooling the water w/ snow. This might just work...
Do you have a plumber friend who might install a no-freeze faucet for you in exchange for some homebrew?
Unfortunately not and we just got the faucet replaced like a year ago because the old one was leaking so there's no way the wife is letting me replace it again. Although, we need to replace the faucet on the front of the house next year... probably worth extra investment... I mean just to protect against frozen pipes... definitely not because I want to make beer in the winter...
I thought that around here at least, those faucets were code. Are you absolutely sure the new one is not a no-freeze faucet? Heck, they were going around here checking to see that we had anti-siphon devices on hose bibs.
One way to know is that if you just run it for 5 seconds, then shut it off, water will continue to drain.
Do you have water in your garage? I'm dealing w/ some of the same issues as the OP, with the exception of having a 1 car detached garage, however, while it has power it does not have water. Currently I run an Immersion Chiller from my hose bib but that seems like a terrible plan in the winter if you want all your pipes to remain in tact. I have hose fitting on my laundry sink but that's in the basement down a flight of stairs and through several baby gates... less than ideal for transporting 5.5 gallons of near boiling wort.
I just started my brewing journey and I'm already dreading winter. Ohio is cold as **** and I don't have a garage or anything. I don't *really* want to use my propane burner indoors, but I also don't want to give up brewing for 4 months b
I live in Alabama. What is this Winter thing you speak of?
Maybe. I have one that has one of these doodads on the end:
Or it did... it came off attached to my chiller funny enough and I haven't put it back on yet. I either over tightened the chiller trying to stop some dripping or it was installed $#!+y or both. Is that the same thing?
It wasn't locked into the hose bib which is why it came off. That little set screw on the adapter is supposed to be screwed in to prevent the adapter from coming off.
I'll bet you 50 cents--or a homebrew--that you have a freeze-proof faucet on there.
EDITED TO ADD: Sudden thought: why not contact the plumber who replaced that faucet and ask if it's a freezeproof faucet? All this speculation might be resolved with a 2-minute phone call.
There is no bad weather only bad clothes. I usually wear snowpants and good boots (sometimes with those warmer pack things in the boots) and layers up top.
A couple other tips: after I drain the mash tun, I leave the hot grain in there and put a garbage bag over the top of the grain - that gives me a nice clean warm container to store things that shouldn't freeze or to store my big gloves when I'm not wearing them.
Salt spills right away if it's below freezing (or if the garage floor is below freezing even if the air temp is not) Safety first.
As for chilling, I fill a ten-gallon cooler with ice and water and rig up a recirculating thing with a pump, and I just run ice water though the chiller. Two 20-lb bags of ice gets me to lager temps no problem.
Other than that, bring a Thermos full of something hot to drink.
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