Pre-Chilling for Lager Brewing

[michael.berta]

I'm curious if anyone has had success with a pre-chiller. I live in the Seattle area and generally have no issues using a therminator. I can get 12 gallons of wort to pitching temp in about 15 minutes. I would like to get into lager brewing so I need a pre-chiller. Preferably one where I can hook up the out of the pre chiller directly to the water in of the therminator. There's several on the market from Austin Homebrew Supply, Reber Brewer, More Beer and others...

My goal is to use a pre-chiller so I can chill to lager pitching temps (less than 50 degrees F) in as little time as possible.

Thanks

Mike

 

[Brulosopher]

I'm curious if anyone has had success with a pre-chiller. I live in the Seattle area and generally have no issues using a therminator. I can get 12 gallons of wort to pitching temp in about 15 minutes. I would like to get into lager brewing so I need a pre-chiller. Preferably one where I can hook up the out of the pre chiller directly to the water in of the therminator. There's several on the market from Austin Homebrew Supply, Reber Brewer, More Beer and others...

My goal is to use a pre-chiller so I can chill to lager pitching temps (less than 50 degrees F) in as little time as possible.

Thanks

Mike

Hey Mike,

In my experience, pre-chillers basically suck. I brew hybrids all the time and lager beers occasionally... while from Seattle (Bothell, really), I now live in the Central Valley of California, where it is hot as hell. My process, in a nutshell:

1. Pre-chill fermentation freezer to 35˚F. This is easy since I'm usually kegging a couple cold-crashed batches the day of or before brew day.

2. Chill wort with IC (my preferred chiller after trying multiple things over the years) to as low as it'll go- last Monday it was 68˚.

3. Rack to carboys, cover carboys with sanitized foil (I always do this for the first 24 hours of fermentation anyways), place carboys in fermentation freezer.

4. Once the lid on the freezer is closed, turn temp regulator to whatever your fermentation temp is, or 5˚ below (I do this for lagers).

5. Let the wort hang out in the freezer for 3-6 hours, checking the temp every hour or so.

6. Once wort reaches pitching temp, pitch yeast starter, set regulator to ideal temp, tape insulated probe to side of carboy, then leave the freezer open for 5-10 minutes to warm up just a tad so as not to continue cooling the wort.

This may not necessarily be the response you were looking for, but it works remarkably well. During the hotter summer months, I use this process for every beer I make since I like to pitch even ale at 64˚ and my groundwater runs about 68˚.

Cheers!

Edit: I meant to say that I used a nice pre-chiller setup for about 4 months (10+ batches) and it had no noticeable impact. I later learned this was because for the water in the pre-chiller to get cold enough, it has to be run pretty slow; however, the best chilling occurs when the water is run through the IC super fast. After chatting with some water physics experts, I realized it was a waste of time and money.

 

[michael.berta]

Thanks. I was hoping to not have to do that as the preferable manner is to pitch the yeast right away but if that's the way it's gotta be then that's the way it's gotta be.

 

[Pratzie]

^^^^ Ive been considering doing this as well too. with both my wort and yeast starter after it hit high krausen

 

[Francus]

I live in Charlotte and pitched the prechiller. I now have temp control so I just put the wort/fermenter into the freezer until it hits pitching temp and then pitch.

If you don't have temp control I highly recommend it. It is relatively cheap and even ales benefit greatly from fermenting at a set temp. And you don't have to prechill.

On that note, I recommend an upright freezer as opposed to a refridgerator. One, it's made to freeze so the motor doesn't have to work to hard, even for lagering, and you can keep the tolerances tight. I use +/- 1F. Two, it has a flat bottom so a conical fits in just nice (15 cu ft or larger). Just get a good temp controller.

 

[michael.berta]

I live in Charlotte and pitched the prechiller. I now have temp control so I just put the wort/fermenter into the freezer until it hits pitching temp and then pitch.

If you don't have temp control I highly recommend it. It is relatively cheap and even ales benefit greatly from fermenting at a set temp. And you don't have to prechill.

On that note, I recommend an upright freezer as opposed to a refridgerator. One, it's made to freeze so the motor doesn't have to work to hard, even for lagering, and you can keep the tolerances tight. I use +/- 1F. Two, it has a flat bottom so a conical fits in just nice (15 cu ft or larger). Just get a good temp controller.

I have a fridge for temp control I just don't want to wait 5+ hours before pitching the yeast.

 

[Francus]

I have a fridge for temp control I just don't want to wait 5+ hours before pitching the yeast.

You can pitch when it gets in range if you feel like it. I sometimes have to pitch at 75-80 even if I'm cooling down further because I'm going out of town. I haven't noticed any problems or off flavors.