Advice on cooling wort.

[bradicalism]

Hey everyone! Total beginner here, one batch in, making my second tomorrow! Main concern after first batch was how long it took me to cool down the wort. Due to my faucet I can't get a wort chiller so need to improvise. I did the classic ice bath in the sink but my sink is very small and it took forever (40-45 mins).

I live in Canada where it's freezing and am considering throwing It in my balcony? I've heard this can be a bad idea?

Other idea I was told by a guy at my local homebrew store was to freeze large water bottles and then drop them into the wort. This seems like a great idea but want to make sure I'm not risking the plastic bottles affecting taste? Any tips and ideas would be greatly appreciated!!

Other small question, my plastic fermenting bucket really smells and someone recommended soaking it in oxi-clean which I did today. Smell is much better...then I realized I accidentally used the oxi-clean for baby stains in clothes. Whoops. Did I potentially mess up my bucket by using whatever chemicals are in there?? I rinsed the crap out of it after. Also used easy off oven cleaner on the kettle as it had burnt LME on it (now using DME only), but heard that was safe.

Anyway, beginner rant over! Thanks so much for any help, I'm excited to get my brown started tomorrow!

 

[TheCADJockey]

Hey buddy. I'm in the same boat as you pretty much. My faucets are all sorts of funky, needed an attachment just to get my bottle sprayer to attach to it. Anyway, I always cool my wort outside. I've never had any problems, other than it isn't that much faster than the way you are doing it now. It is however, very easy. I just sit that puppy in the snow and let it ride, depending on our lovely weather sometimes it is cooled in a half hour or so. Once it warms up in a few months, eh... back to the drawing board.

 

[bradicalism]

Maybe I'll go for it, obviously lid on I assume?

 

[rekamefink]

I took my plastic fermenter and let it float in my pool for about 30 minutes, it worked good. It's been kinda cool here in Texas the water was about 34 degrees. I'm going to make a chiller before summer gets here.

 

[TheCADJockey]

Maybe I'll go for it, obviously lid on I assume?

Oh yeah, keep the lid on. I would try it man. I used to do it in the tub and it just made me angry trying to circulate the water and keep it cool then one day I just threw it outside and walked to the bar next door. Came back after a beer and a cuban and it was ready to pitch.

 

[GrogNerd]

I set my BK into a storage container filled with cold water and swap out frozen milk jugs until cooled to pitch temp

move wort to ferment vessel & pitch

then put the ferment vessel into the same storage container and follow the same procedure for fermentation. after a couple days, keeping it cool isn't as critical, so I'll swap the frozen jugs less often

 

[stpug]

Just to be clear, 40-45 minute chill time is perfectly acceptable from a brewing standpoint. If, on the other hand, it's wasting YOUR time then perhaps you can improve.

During the chilling time you can clean up everything else so that all you have left afterwards is the brew pot and maybe a funnel.

BTW, I'm not too keen on putting frozen bottles in my wort. While you could sanitize them prior to freezing, you cannot be sure they are still clean after freezing; and if you try sanitizing them after freezing then you end up adding a fair amount of frozen sanitizer to your wort. Not to mention the nooks and crannies that are on typical water bottles.

 

[TheZymurgist]

Key thing to getting the wort to cool quickly is to keep it moving, gently. Sanitize a long-handle spoon and stir it slowly every once in a while. Don't worry about oxidation or contamination, the likelihood is pretty low. Try buying a cheap party bucket (the big metal ones you throw ice and drinks in) and use that to do an ice bath on your balcony. That should get it to cool pretty quick.

 

[Jupapabear]

Sitting your kettle in the snow and stirring occasionally will help your brew chill pretty fast. I used to use the frozen bottles in conjunction with an ice bath and that chilled in like 25 or so minutes if I stirred. I now use a immersion chiller, but as Houston's ground water is pretty warm in the summer I am looking for better options. Just remember, what ever you do, anything to touch the wort post boil needs to be sanitized. I use star-san to achieve this, after everything is thoroughly cleaned. I leave my stainless spoon in the wort so that it is already sanitized by the heat from the boil. Hope that helps.

And as to your question about oxyclean, I use oxyclean 'free'. It works wonders. I am sure you are fine with what you used though. Just remember that after cleaning comes rinsing and sanitizing.

 

[TheZymurgist]

Oh yeah, keep the lid on. I would try it man. I used to do it in the tub and it just made me angry trying to circulate the water and keep it cool then one day I just threw it outside and walked to the bar next door. Came back after a beer and a cuban and it was ready to pitch.

No need to keep the lid on unless it's windy/rainy/snowy. Risk of contamination is pretty low.

 

[TheCADJockey]

No need to keep the lid on unless it's windy/rainy/snowy. Risk of contamination is pretty low.

Oh, right on. I just fear anything getting into it... the glutens, gremlins and other scary things.

Dogs. I meant, I have a big slobbery dog that accidentally licks everything. My lid stays on.

 

[TheZymurgist]

Just a side note (read: bragging) I chilled 10 gallons of wort to 64º in 7 minutes a couple weeks ago using a Jaded Hydra chiller. I was lucky to score one used, since they're like $150 new, but considering the time and water savings, I'd say $150 isn't too bad for one of those. Not sure what my ground water temp was, but I'm sure it was pretty low.

 

[TheZymurgist]

Oh, right on. I just fear anything getting into it... the glutens, gremlins and other scary things.

Dogs. I meant, I have a big slobbery dog that accidentally licks everything. My lid stays on.

For some reason, I have a strange fear of one of the neighbor's kids peeing into the kettle if I leave it for too long. Not sure why, they've never given me a reason to think this, but somehow it popped into my head, and now I can't get over the thought...

 

[TheCADJockey]

Oh god... my neighbors are weird... now I'm going to be afraid of the same thing!

Although, they are terrified of the previously mentioned big slobbery dog.

 

[bradicalism]

Thanks for the awesome advice everyone! I'll try just putting it outside with the occasional stir and see how long it takes, if it's still a long time, I'll try adding in a frozen bottle next time.

So happy I found this site, you are all very very helpful.

 

[TheCADJockey]

I set my BK into a storage container filled with cold water and swap out frozen milk jugs until cooled to pitch temp

move wort to ferment vessel & pitch

then put the ferment vessel into the same storage container and follow the same procedure for fermentation. after a couple days, keeping it cool isn't as critical, so I'll swap the frozen jugs less often

View attachment 248361

Yeah man. You've come to the right place.

If you don't have a way to control & keep your fermentation temperatures where they need to be... Do this.

 

[SnakeRidge]

I can just see my three dogs, kicked back in the brewpot hot tub style smoking stogies.

 

[GrogNerd]

Yeah man. You've come to the right place.

If you don't have a way to control & keep your fermentation temperatures where they need to be... Do this.

I'm glad my using MSPaint for a CAD drawing didn't offend you

I use my graphics tablet for 2 things... drawings like that and, when I get really bored

 

[TheCADJockey]

lol nah. Pretty dang good for paint hehe.

 

[Ski12568]

With extract I only had about 3 gal of water to cool and used an ice bath. Cooled it down in about 20min by stirring the wort opposite the flow of the water in the ice bath. I also kept my other gallons of top-up water in the fridge overnight and added those to cool it faster.

I did my first all grain batch and it took forever. I ran out of ice and in panic I sanitized a roll of freeze pops o had in the freezer and threw them in the wort... Only help about 3 degrees lol. I ended up running to the gas station and getting some more ice.

I plan on getting 2 wort chillers now. In AZ the water temps are pretty high in the summer so I want one stainless chiller for the wort and one copper I'll set in an ice bath to cool the water. I'm gonna have to use the water hose so I need to find a way to reuse the water.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I plan on getting 2 wort chillers now. In AZ the water temps are pretty high in the summer so I want one stainless chiller for the wort and one copper I'll set in an ice bath to cool the water. I'm gonna have to use the water hose so I need to find a way to reuse the water.

Can I suggest and immersion chiller, a $10-15 pond pump and 5 gallon bucket full of ice water? My 10 gallon batches (11.5 gal volume) take about 20 minutes and either 40#'s of ice or 30 minutes and 2 frozen 1 gallon jugs. The submersible pond pump goes on the bottom of the bucket, enough water to cover it, ice or more water and frozen jugs...return line from the chiller goes back to the bucket.

Turn pump on and smoke a stogie in the interim.

 

[Ski12568]

That sounds perfect. Even cheaper than what I planned. So you just freeze 2 gallons and use that alone in the bucket? Thank you!

 

[Onkel_Udo]

That sounds perfect. Even cheaper than what I planned. So you just freeze 2 gallons and use that alone in the bucket? Thank you!

Give or take...I often have to use the ice in my ice maker to get that last 10 degrees.

 

[Ski12568]

I cleared a bottom drawer in my freezer to store the ice the freezer makes so I don't have to buy as much.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

That sounds perfect. Even cheaper than what I planned. So you just freeze 2 gallons and use that alone in the bucket? Thank you!

And not to take credit for the idea...it came from these forums.

Fyi, the 3 GPM or so pump from Harbor freight works great IF you have zero head or know how to pre-prime the whole apparatus so it has an effective zero head. Otherwise, get the next bigger pump (I think it was 5-7 gallons and a true 3' head at .5 GPM)

 

[Durandal]

You can't use a hose because your faucet won't accept one. Mine won't either, BUUUUUT my washing machine hooks up to one. And right next to a nice drain, no less. Possibility for you!

 

[sww35]

I found adding table salt to an ice bath brings the temp down faster also.

 

[Jurassic410]

Got a rubbermaid container filled with cold water enough for the pot to be surrounded and put it outside for a bit, it's been 25 degrees here. Took about a half hour and one water change to cool. Works for me. In the summer I'll add ice to the water bath.

 

[atx_brewer]

Can I suggest and immersion chiller, a $10-15 pond pump and 5 gallon bucket full of ice water? My 10 gallon batches (11.5 gal volume) take about 20 minutes and either 40#'s of ice or 30 minutes and 2 frozen 1 gallon jugs. The submersible pond pump goes on the bottom of the bucket, enough water to cover it, ice or more water and frozen jugs...return line from the chiller goes back to the bucket.

Turn pump on and smoke a stogie in the interim.

+1. This is the setup I use, and it works very well. I can chill about 5 gallons to under 70 degress in about 20 minutes, even here in Austin during the summer. When the water in the bucket warms up, I empty some of it through the discharge hose and top off with more ice.

 

[rekamefink]

I'm going to try the pond pump idea. Thanks for the idea.

 

[SkipMorrow]

Would it be ok to just add ice right to the wort? Instead of water? I mean, you've got like 3 gallons of wort, and you need to add water to it to get it up to 5. Why not just add ice?

 

[grrickar]

Would it be ok to just add ice right to the wort? Instead of water? I mean, you've got like 3 gallons of wort, and you need to add water to it to get it up to 5. Why not just add ice?

The ice would need to be made from pre-boiled water IMO, and you would be changing the gravity of the beer since you are adding water to the wort. Biggest thng as the wort cools is ensuring you don't allow an infection/bacteria to take hold. Brewing is a lot of work to lose a batch to an unwanted bug...

 

[Onkel_Udo]

Would it be ok to just add ice right to the wort? Instead of water? I mean, you've got like 3 gallons of wort, and you need to add water to it to get it up to 5. Why not just add ice?

It is a dangerous game of chicken...but, I have turned distilled water in the gallon jugs into near freezing and just dumped two in. This gets you instantly to about 140F or if you chill your wort to 140F first in an ice bath it gets you to about 97F.

My rationalization was that the water had to be germ free is it was distilled and packaged but the truth is you just do not know. Besides, by the time I started doing this I was already pitching monster starters so that further reduced the risks. Once I switched to all grain (about 4 batches later) the point became irrelevant.

 

[mcbar]

Those of you who use/have used the snowbank method, maybe you can shed some light on this.

On my last batch I stuck my kettle in a snow bank to cool it down, and it ended up taking longer to reach temperature than my usual ice bath method. I'm wondering if the snow acted as an insulator? Next time I'm going to try putting it outside in a basin of water and adding snow to that instead.

Freezing milk jugs, 2L pop bottles and reusing them in an ice bath works well.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

On my last batch I stuck my kettle in a snow bank to cool it down, and it ended up taking longer to reach temperature than my usual ice bath method. I'm wondering if the snow acted as an insulator? Next time I'm going to try putting it outside in a basin of water and adding snow to that instead.

Two issue with snowbank method:

Surface contact is only on the bottom after about 30 seconds
All other surfaces are well insulated after about 30 seconds if you bury it or it naturally sinks in

Snow replacing ice in an ice bath is going to me much more efficient.

 

[mcbar]

Two issue with snowbank method:

Surface contact is only on the bottom after about 30 seconds
All other surfaces are well insulated after about 30 seconds if you bury it or it naturally sinks in

Snow replacing ice in an ice bath is going to me much more efficient.

That's what I thought/figured out halfway through last time. Seems counter intuitive but makes sense. Thanks for confirming!