I always forget the extra little pains of brewing in the winter. Its been hitting 15° every night for a while. Hoses frozen, pump frozen, had to use rv tanks because my little 5s frost up too quick. Can’t hold mash temp with my yoga mat coozie, so relearning how much flame to hold temp on recirculation. Fun times
My kitchen, February 7. Five gallons. Three kettles. It works. Plus, the snow makes for a very cheap and easy chiller method.
I love winter brewing - no bugs! Ferment in the garage with a heat belt for lagers and indoors for ales. Just drain everything well and store it warm if it has any water in it.
I feel your pain! I went to brew last Saturday and realized the hose was frozen outside. Fortunately two sons-in-law were visiting. They took it upstairs to the tub and thawed it out. Now it is on the garage floor where it belongs in the Winter. Doh!
Yeah, it’s almost that time around here for me as well. I’m looking at a brewday at some point this weekend and weather is looking in the 40’s so I’ll take it. I brew out in the garage and this time of year I switch from cooled fermentation temperature control to applying heat. I also have to be careful when we get on a cold streak, I keep my keg fridge out in the garage.
Its just like anything else. Tougher in the winter. But I wouldn’t change a thing. Just had to be reminded of those extra steps I have to take.
One Scottish in the fermentor, one pale ale starting to boil. Woo hoo
Yup, I brew entirely in the outdoors. I have an air tank that I blow the CFC out with. I bring the hose in after I brew. I would rather brew in the cold vs. the heat of summer. Water temps are going down, no more ice! I’m going to brew some high gravity stuff for my next few brews. then my normal Imp Stout on New Years Eve. The only thing I don’t like is when we get snow. I think I brewed and shoveled the deck all winter.
I’m actually enjoying the “winter” right now, but I live in So Cal. It’s much easier to cool the wort down, etc when the temp will actually drop below 80F.
It’s fantastic right now. My sin bin hasn’t moved off 62 degrees in three weeks so no worries for the last couple of batches. Set it and forget it…
So far so good in NH. I brew the day after Thanksgiving each year and it’s usually freezing (last year we got a foot of snow the Wed. before Thanksgiving). This year it was 60 degrees! I’ll take it.
Honestly in NH we get cold stretches but the biggest issue is wind. Of course last year the big issue was snow. We had a blizzard in mid-January and then I was snowblowing/shoveling every other day after that. We had one of the snowiest winters on record for our area.
All said and done my only real glitch was under shooting my pitching temp on the second batch by a few degrees. It will be fine though. Might bump my lag time a couple hours, but its 1056 so not like its going to die.
‘winter’ brewing is my favorite - 50-70df weather, sunny, no bugs. best part is finishing around 2pm and having a few beers, reading a book, before firing up the grill for dinner. 
Our highs are running about 15°F right now. Fortunately I’ve switched to my winter setup that only requires me to step outside to light the burner and again to retrieve the kettle for whirlpool/knockout.
Certainly can’t complain about Friday’s weather, it made for a great day to wash and wax the cars. it would have been a great day for brewing if I had the time. I find winter brewing manageable, you jest need to treat it like skiing and pick your day.
Funny, I had always thought that Dave’s picture was of the Prince of Thieves version of Friar Tuck, but its really you?
EDIT: I thought that because of your quote. I’m still 50/50 on this, not sure.
I resemble the Friar; however, I am not the Friar. 
I set out to make enough beer this summer to hold me over for the winter months. That didnt work out (i think alot of my beer evaporated, i couldnt have drank it all!).
Luckily, its been extremely mild here in Michigan this winter. I was able to brew four batches of beer over the Thanksgiving holiday and could use the outside hose for chilling because nothing is frozen yet.
Its not that I’m against brewing in the winter, its just that my old bones prefer the milder weather. And its nice to be able to use my chiller without a bucket and a pump. Looks like I may be able to squeeze in a few more brewing sessions before it gets cold!
I brewed every weekend in October and two were 8 gal batches so i have a nice stash, but it wont last so im getting another in this weekend. Seems like i brew more in the cool months starting in october. I do have a heated garage so that helps. summer brewing is nice but I cant keep it cool enough.
I’ve always been wondering, too, if that was you or not. Now we know!
I love winter brewing. No bugs, cold tap water for chilling, boiling warms up the house…it’s great. Plus I can ferment at ambient temps for ales and leave my fridge for lagers. Since I don’t do much for ales anymore, that isn’t as much of a concern, but it’s still nice to have the option. I keep my house pretty cool in the winter months. It’s 64F inside right now and about 30F outside.
Seem like a cold front is here now. It’s 61F.