Wort cooling coil necessity

[bear7673]

I'm soon to be starting my third batch of home brew (all of which have been all-grain) and was wondering how fast I should be cooling my wort after the boil. Currently in an ice bath, my past two batches took about 45-60 minutes to cool. Is that too long? And should I be looking into solutions like a cooling coil? Thanks in advance!


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[knyland]

The faster you cool your beer the better. You can make a 50ft 3/8in copper immersion chiller in about 20 minutes and about 75 bucks at lowes. I made one before my first batch and a I can cool my 5 gallon batch of wort down in about 8 minutes.

To me shaving 45 minutes to an hour off of every brew day is worth the coin.

 

[Duster]

I have made about 5 batches - all extract - and I started using a cooling coil after about the third one..... I get the boil down to about 80 degrees after 15 gallons of water, or about 10 minutes.... Its amazing..... I bought one at Amazon for about $55

 

[Nightstrife]

I too will be going to a coil ASAP, however it's the reasons that the chiller/ coil is better, from what I understand you want to cool it as fast as possible to pitch your yeasties ASAPso no other bugs have a chance to take root. I have read one of my books that say let it cool overnight covered.


Or we could use peer pressure and say everybody's doing it...

 

[fearwig]

The convenience benefit is real, the benefit to break is debatable, and the benefit to infection prevention is bunk. Infection risk in early primary is minimal unless you introduce lots of contaminants or something is seriously wrong with your yeast. You can pitch twelve hours after boil or more without significantly increasing infection risk, you just have to be sanitary, as you would anyway.

 

[knyland]

using my immersion chiller (IC) I brewed a stout in 2 1/2 hours this weekend. It was a extract kit with some specialty grains. It normally takes me 3 hours, the gods allowed my wort to boil in record time. But to have a giant pot sitting in a bath tub full of ice at around 10-15$ worth of ice every batch I elected to save money in the long run as stated above. Both will work but at some point you significant other is going to start complaining that your crap is all over the house for so long.

 

[fearwig]

The ice is a DEFINITE waste. Tap water is sufficient.


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[bobeer]

I use an immersion chiller for IPA's so those late hops additions don't get too bitter on you and lose their fragrance effect. I've let wort sit outside when it's too cold to run the hose and I've really haven't notice a big difference at all in the finished product. I run the immersion chiller when I can just because it's faster but if I can't use it it's really not a big deal imo.
Quick story of how chilling in ambient temps really saved my beer... I brewed a blonde recently and when it came time to chill it down to pitching temps I realized the hose was frozen and unusable. I put the kettle outside to cool down and as I was cleaning up I realized I left out a gallon of sparge water. My OG ended up being 1.070 which was way too high. I was worried the beer wouldn't turn out since the hop bill wasn't up to par with a gravity of that size but because I left the kettle outside to cool, for over an hour, more bitterness was taken out of the late hop additions. The beer workout nicely in the end. I dry hopped it for a week and kegged it. The beer turned out to be an 8% sort of blonde IPA and it was very good.

 

[fearwig]

Theoretically isomerization should slow after the boil stops and basically end around 180F, and I think you can get most of the way to 180F within a few minutes in a tap water bath. Some aroma loss, I'm sure. I'm sure you could squeak out a few extra IBU out in the meantime.

 

[Test]

The faster you cool your beer the better. You can make a 50ft 3/8in copper immersion chiller in about 20 minutes and about 75 bucks at lowes. I made one before my first batch and a I can cool my 5 gallon batch of wort down in about 8 minutes.



To me shaving 45 minutes to an hour off of every brew day is worth the coin.

I'm soon to be starting my third batch of home brew (all of which have been all-grain) and was wondering how fast I should be cooling my wort after the boil. Currently in an ice bath, my past two batches took about 45-60 minutes to cool. Is that too long? And should I be looking into solutions like a cooling coil? Thanks in advance!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

I too will be going to a coil ASAP, however it's the reasons that the chiller/ coil is better, from what I understand you want to cool it as fast as possible to pitch your yeasties ASAPso no other bugs have a chance to take root. I have read one of my books that say let it cool overnight covered.





Or we could use peer pressure and say everybody's doing it...

I have made about 5 batches - all extract - and I started using a cooling coil after about the third one..... I get the boil down to about 80 degrees after 15 gallons of water, or about 10 minutes.... Its amazing..... I bought one at Amazon for about $55

TxBrew: Please leave. I'm testing functionality of the iOS app.

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[cjbalough]

I've been cooling mine in the kitchen sink. My sink has 2 bowls, one really large, and deep enough that I have to hook weights to the pot so it doesn't float. The other bowl is a little one for the disposal. I run cool water into the sink while cooling - with the overflow going to the smaller sink and down the drain. Doesn't take too long to cool with the continuous flow of cold water. I'd think one could do a similar setup with a tote in a bathtub or just outside. And cut cooling time quite a bit.

Maybe eventually I'll make an IC but this method works better than a straight water/ice bath, is KISS, and is free. -- basic 4 gal SS pot for partial boil.

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[JimRausch]

Well not everyone.......
I'm over two years and more than 50 batches into this obsession. No IC yet(although I wouldn't turn one down if one of youse guys want to gift me one).
I cool 5G batches outdoors in a swamp cooler. I do add ice in the summer and snow in the winter. I can get down to below 70 within 1/2 hour. The key is to change the water when it warms up. I'm fortunate that the water coming out of my hose is max. 50* even in the summer(deep well)