Last night, I stood in a cold garage over a warm burner with my neighbor, and we brewed up two batches of Chinook IPA. This capped a weekend of much socializing, from sushi dinner on Friday (and a late, late night for all of us) to a barbecue dinner on Saturday with another family (resulting in another late evening). As a result, much homebrew was consumed and I woke with a headache on two of the three following mornings. I know, I know.

Concerned about the overnight temperature of our basement, I wrapped the fermenting carboy in a seed-starting blanket, which is designed to heat a few degrees over the ambient air temperature. The stick-on thermometer read 70° this morning, and I could tell the yeast was working (mostly on the side of the blanket) but I’m considering moving the carboy up to one of our bedrooms, which tend to stay warmer.