-20c BIAB

Post #1 made 11 years ago
Well I had my mind made up I was brewing my Superior Saison (named for the lake I live beside) last weekend. Ice fishing Saturday and brewing Sunday, all OK'd with the boss, everything ready. Unfortunately it was -25c Sunday morning... :shock:

My cutoff is usually -20 since the propane doesn't seem to flow too well at anything colder, but I gotta brew when I can squeeze it in, so figured what the heck. By the time I milled my grain the temp rose to about -20 so it was all good. :party:

Except my burner would not stay lit, guessing the propane tank was still a bit cold, so I grabbed the trusty space heater and extension cord, rigged it up beside the tank in the woodshed and cranked it up on high. Felt like it was blowing cold air but after babysitting the burner for about 10 mins it finally stayed lit, and I was at mash temps a few mins later. If theres a will theres a way. :smoke:

Put the usual comforter over the kettle once mashed in, and I figured since I had the heater there, may has well stick it under the blanket. This worked great! Checked on the mash half way through, after a good stir I had only lost 1 degree C.
IMG-20150201-00028.jpg
By the time I finished mashout the temp had rose to a balmy -15, figured the boil would be nice and smooth, of course I ran out of propane with 30 mins to go. :headhit: Luckily I always have a spare tank, but like the idiot I am I left it outside between the woodshed and the house, and I had shoveled the roof off about a week before, so it was buried under about 3 feet of hard packed snow. Dug the damn thing out, took the trusty propane torch and melted all the ice off the nozzle etc., and I was up and running again about 25 mins later. Gotta love brewdays like that... Heres a pic of the boil in progress, and the thermometer showing a balmy -15 now, :thumbs: had my finger crossed that my neighbour wasn't going to call the fire department thinking my shed was burning down from all the steam.
IMG-20150201-00029.jpg
All in all the brewday went well, hah, oh ya and I left the kettle out in the snowbank to chill when I went to my friends to watch the superbowl and when I came back it was too cold to pitch, so ended up siphoning into the fermentor and setting it by the fireplace for a few hours to warm up. Few more than I meant to actually since I fell asleep on the couch as per usual, when I woke up it was a few degrees too warm but it was like 3am and I had enough so I pitched anyway hah. Was bubbling away nicely 4 hrs later when I woke up tho, so all good...
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Last edited by goulaigan on 06 Feb 2015, 22:53, edited 1 time in total.
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Post #2 made 11 years ago
Ha! :lol:

Great write up Goulaigan. It amazes me how you cope with temps like that (for brewing & general life)!

We are at T-shirt and shorts weather in the UK (-2C). But our transport & road systems grind to a halt if there is the slightest sign of snow, ice, rain, or even the odd leaf off a tree lands on a train track!
G B
I spent lots of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I squandered
I've stopped drinking, but only when I'm asleep
I ONCE gave up women and alcohol - it was the worst 20 minutes of my life
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Post #3 made 11 years ago
Mally, your in a better location than I am At.

Here, they say "God Brought the Snow, God can Clean it Up". That means Roads are Closed 1 day per 25mm(1") of snow/Ice.
Honest Officer, I swear to Drunk, I am Not God.
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Post #4 made 11 years ago
You get used to it after a while hah. I lived out west for a while in Grande Prairie Alberta, where we would regularly get a month or more of -30c in the winter, several days down to -50 or colder, especially when you factor in those prairie winds, so its nice to be back home in Northern Ontario where we only see a -30 day here and there.

Does make it tricky having 3 young kids, takes a while to get them all bundled up every time you bring them outside, but they get used to it too. I live about 30km from the nearest town too, so driving the highway in snowstorms to work on a daily basis, you get used to that too. They only close them down when its complete white-out, as in can't see 5 feet in front of the car, but its a great excuse to not go to work. Also it's totally worth it to live on the largest freshwater lake in the world, although I really need to invest in a boat for the other 6 months of the year, but great ice fishing in the winter! Besides I'll take 6 months of winter over 6 months of rain like you guys get any day LOL.
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Post #5 made 11 years ago
Thanks for the laughs above but you really are all mad I think :roll:. If I lived in your climate, I'd have a still.

You guys deserve an award for the most dedicated brewers ever I reckon :party:.
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Post #6 made 11 years ago
Not sure about Australia, but in Canada the law kinda frowns on home distilleries... And I don't really like spirits anyway so wouldn't do me much good... I do love my homebrew tho, and brewing beer in the cold is a walk in the park compared to working on snowmobiles and vehicles out in the snowbank. I can brew almost entirely without taking my gloves off, not so much when trying to pretend to be a mechanic. It isn't pleasant tho when you do take the gloves off to pull the bag and than grab the kettle kid with wet hands and your skin instantly freezes and sticks to the metal lol...
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