It’s going to be -2 in the morning when I light the fires! It looks and feels like Russia in northeast Ohio. Why not be brewing a Russian Imperial Stout? I might have to go for a double hot scotchy for this escapade.
Anybody else bearing the elements to brew great beer this weekend?
I don’t envy you brother! Spent 3 years in the Painesville area and it gets damn cold east of Cleveland. Hell it only took one winter of me brewing in the Nati’ to go indoor/electric. Alas I have nothing to brew this weekend. I brewed 4 weekends in a row starting in Dec and the keezer is stocked with 2 APAs, an English Mild and a Robust Porter. I was just thinking about how good a RIS would be though… Best of luck, stay warm!
Good luck, man. I’m sure you’ll nail it. That beer will taste that much better when you remember how you frosted your arse brewing it !
I will be brewing 5.5 gallons of Drew and Denny’s “The Queen’s Diamonds” English Barleywine Sunday morning when the forecast I believe is 77% chance of snow showers and high of 40. Don’t know what the wind chill will bring, but I am looking forward to the brew day. I will be huddled in the basement garage with 2 doors partially open but mostly blocked to keep the wind off of me and my burner. After the brew day, I will be bottling 5.5g of English ordinary bitter that turned into a special bitter. The EBW will be getting pitched with a healthy slug of the slurry from this brew
That sounds very good. I have an American BW planned in a few brews down the road. Just snow showers in Cincy Sunday? Hell, we’re supposed to get upwards of a foot here Sunday. This is pretty much the reason why I’m brewing in sub zero temps tomorrow. You gotta pick and choose your battles I guess lol.
Yeah, pretty much the same weather here. And I’m itching to get out there and brew too. I think it’ll be more like and inside-outside brew. Heating up the water on the kitchen stove, mashing inside, and only doing the boil on the porch–while I monitor it from inside looking out the door.
Brewing inside today. Its 6 degrees but 30 mph steady wind.
Last winter I did a couple brews outside on the turkey fryer when it was frigid. Well, Texas frigid at least. The second one was a very windy night in the 20s. Too cold and too windy to keep a good boil. Fortunately it was a sour beer where I didn’t need to worry about getting good isomerization from the boil.
We’re 5 minutes into the boil now. Temps are slowly rising… to 7 lol. Today’s brew has been brought to you by in parts by Carhartt.
Sounds like fun! Its not much warmer here in northern illinois however im in the garage with my gas fired furnace so im not suffering today. Brewing the Kern river clone in my new 15 gal kettle and to go along with that my new biab bag from bagbrewer.com. Loving this so far!!!
Ah, this is why I like brewing inside where it’s not too hot or cold and no wind to mess with the boil. I do like brewing outside though, it can be really fun.
I’m planning to brew a 4.5 gallon batch of black IPA tomorrow while it’s snowing a whole bunch. I’ve brewed every weekend this year…it’s fantastic.
The weather doesn’t slow us down. I hate brewing in the heat worse than this nonsense lol
No flies!
No, but the heat stirs up some stink bugs in the winter. Those things are relentless!
Yeah, no fun at all. Once summer hits all my brewing is indoors. I have a wasp problem in the yard and they are quite hostile about the aroma of delicious beverages. A couple weekends ago it got warm here and I was roasting coffee in the garage with the bay door open. Three wasps came in and tried to chase me away. Jerks.
On the other hand, when it’s 104 and your forehead is dripping sweat into the boil kettle and mash tun - cold weather sounds really good.
Stink bugs?
Yeah, these things showed up in the Ohio, PA, and WV tristate area about 5 years ago. They swarm towards the end of the summer into fall. They do dormant in the cold, but a little bit of warmth gets them riled up. I saw two in the garage today. I think they came from China or something. They’re a real PITA.
Not to derail your thread, but these things?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentatomidae
The species you are dealing with now is probably the one introduced from China in 98, but there have been others in the family in the South for many generations. Mostly the Rice Stink Bug:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_stink_bug
As kids, we were generally were told to get away from them as fast as you can 
Yeah… The first one… Bastards…