[reverseapachemaster]

It was 30 yesterday but 70 tomorrow. It will probably 30 again on Tuesday. Texas weather is crazy.

[fmader]

It was 30 yesterday but 70 tomorrow. It will probably 30 again on Tuesday. Texas weather is crazy.

70 to 30? I'd rather have that 40 degree swing than the one we'll have here in Ohio. 20 today and tomorrow and -18 Monday and Tuesday. Needless to say, brewing was on hold this weekend.

[thirsty]

When I read that we're in for potentially weeks of bitter cold weather in NY all I could think was..."man I can brew a lot of lagers now."

+10 I live in NE Wisconsin; polar vortex bring it on! I have 5 years of firewood and 2 years of propane. The
vortex is saving me money on heating fuel and homebrewing. I'm currently on my second pint and saving money
as I rattle the keyboard. On a side note, the Mrs and I toast the house up on some Saturdays and walk around
in our underwear in the winter. It's just one reason we love living in the woods. Life is grand!

How much firewood and propane is that, exactly?

[snowtiger87]

61 in Denver today but I don't care since I brew indoors on my e-brewery. 

[duboman]

Everything went great this afternoon, especially chilling down 6 gallons to 48 in 10 minutes! The down side is the skating rink my driveway turned into......spread a lot of salt:)

[Mark G]

It's supposed to hit 24 tomorrow, so I'm taking advantage of the heat wave to brew a CAP before we drop back into negative readings.

[HoosierBrew]

Yeah, assuming there's anything positive about this relentless winter - I brewed 2 weeks ago today and chilled my wort to ~ 65F in 11 minutes.

[hopfenundmalz]

Brewing in the attached garage. Not too bad toady. It has warmed up to the low 20s. With the warming we also are have some pretty good snow showers.

For the decoction step, Mrs. R said "We can go to the kitchen and boil on the gas stove top, right?" and I said YES!

[philm63]

Left my dang hose outside too long - froze solid! I guess if I buy a new hose, I can brew this weekend... Still below freezing here north of Atlanta!

[el_capitan]

It was 30 yesterday but 70 tomorrow. It will probably 30 again on Tuesday. Texas weather is crazy.

70 to 30? I'd rather have that 40 degree swing than the one we'll have here in Ohio. 20 today and tomorrow and -18 Monday and Tuesday. Needless to say, brewing was on hold this weekend.

We had a 50 degree swing here the other day.  It went from -20 to +30 overnight.  What a huge difference.  This winter seems to be making up for the last 10 years of wimpy winters.  We're having a hardcore, old-school Minnesota winter up here.  I think my Norwegian heritage is coming through for me - I'm growing a huge thick beard.  My genes are responding favorably to the frigid temps! 

It's supposed to be -19 tomorrow morning with 16 mph winds.  There's a good chance school will be called off and I'll be brewing some IPA.  Not so bad in the attached garage.  The main inconvenience is lugging the kettle inside and down to the utility room to chill.  Brew on!

[gandelf]

When I read that we're in for potentially weeks of bitter cold weather in NY all I could think was..."man I can brew a lot of lagers now."

+10 I live in NE Wisconsin; polar vortex bring it on! I have 5 years of firewood and 2 years of propane. The
vortex is saving me money on heating fuel and homebrewing. I'm currently on my second pint and saving money
as I rattle the keyboard. On a side note, the Mrs and I toast the house up on some Saturdays and walk around
in our underwear in the winter. It's just one reason we love living in the woods. Life is grand!

How much firewood and propane is that, exactly?

11 full cords or 33 face cords; I buy a full semi load of hardwood every 4 years. That was $925 last summer. 500 gallons of propane which is purchased in the summer very 2 years. The price of propane is a little cheaper during the summer months in Wisconsin, but the "summer rate" has been discontinued many years ago. I had the 1500 sqft house built in 1991, with double the code requirements for insulation.

Edit: Having dry SEASONED wood (2 years), increases the BTU output ~40 percent.

[duboman]

Left my dang hose outside too long - froze solid! I guess if I buy a new hose, I can brew this weekend... Still below freezing here north of Atlanta!

Just bring it inside and let it thaw in the bath tub or run some hot water through it and all is good, that's what us 'northern folks' do..........

[el_capitan]

Sure enough, school's off for tomorrow.  I'm throwing down Dean Larsen's Celebration Ale recipe.  I brewed this recipe a couple years ago and thought it came out well, if a little lacking in the hops department.  That was before I got a handle on water chemistry, so I'm hoping this batch turns out a little better. 

The windchills tomorrow morning should be in the -45 range.  Don't worry though - I'll be in the garage, where the air temp should only be around -19. 

Seriously, we must really be earning an awesome spring/summer.  I can't wait. 

[Jeff M]

Seriously, we must really be earning an awesome spring/summer.  I can't wait.

or maybe mother earth is starting to fight back..... 

[yugamrap]

We have a terrific new concept we're working on here in Michigan. It's called "Inside"...

Unfortunately, full-scale brewing indoors just isn't an option for me.  It should be around 20-25 F here this Saturday, so I'm going to sack-up and jury-rig some tarps to block the wind and brew outside.  The part of my patio where I brew has a roof and I have an infrared heater to take the chill off.  It's really the wind that's the problem - it messes with my burners and really impacts my boil-off rate.  That just means more monitoring during the boil with my refractometer so I hit my target OG.