Cooling wort outside in winter?

[carloscede2]

So, It is -29 outside and I had the thought of cooling the wort outside. This time I used a cold bath for safety but I wonder if I can stir the wort outside. I live in an apartment so it'd be in the balcony (no dealing with snow) and it seems like a fast way to cool it down. Any thoughts?

 

[Peyope]

Yes. Cold air is not as good as conducting heat as cold water though. Do it outside but place in a pile of snow.

 

[Peyope]

[Delete]

 

[jc5066]

Snow only gets to 32. If the air temp is colder then don't put in the snow. Yes I've done that plenty of times.

 

[Peyope]

Maybe I'm mistaken but the act of melting the snow is going to pull out more heat than just the air. Either way, it's a good idea to cool it outside.

 

[jc5066]

You are right. He said its -29 where he is at! 60 degree difference. Bottom line either way works.

 

[carloscede2]

Thanks for the clarification. I live in Canada so thats why. I guess I just wanted to get the best of that cold ass weather. I heard that I never should put it in snow cause it insulates the pot making it impossible to cool.

 

[beerwheel]

Thanks for the clarification. I live in Canada so thats why. I guess I just wanted to get the best of that cold ass weather. I heard that I never should put it in snow cause it insulates the pot making it impossible to cool.

I live in VT and have been using the cold weather (when available) to keep my ice cubes (for wort chill from boil) and water bottles (for water bath swamp cooler) frozen. Snow is useless to get stuff cold fast. May be Canadian cold is better..

 

[max384]

Yes. Cold air is not as good as conducting heat as cold water though. Do it outside but place in a pile of snow.

Don't place it in a pile of snow unless you plan to continually put new snow around the kettle. The snow will actually create an insulation around the kettle, similar to how an igloo works, unless it is fed with fresh snow.

Snow only gets to 32. If the air temp is colder then don't put in the snow. Yes I've done that plenty of times.

This is absolutely not true. Snow will get as cold as the outside temperatures allow it to. Water freezes at 32 F. Once it freezes, the ice (or snow) will continue to get colder as the outside temperature drops.

If you doubt me, just stick a thermometer in the snow on a really cold day. You'll find that the snow is not some sort of miraculous exothermic substance. It may be slightly warmer (or cooler) than the outside air, but only because of a lag time between cooling or warming.

 

[akthor]

Back when I did 5 gallon stovetop batches I used to go outside and stick the pot in the snow to cool the wort.

 

[msa8967]

Bets thing to do is buy a large plastic tub and fill it not all the way full with water the night before you brew. That day stick you hot kettle in this water and add ice/sow to the tub as the water tries to warm up. The other way I do this is start with a full tub of chilled water and pump this through my immersion chiller once it is in the boil kettle. I use a submersible pump bought from amazon for around $25 USD. Chills in less than 10 min. The waste water can be collected in buckets or another tub to use later.

 

[TR6]

I live in Canada, and use distilled water for my CPAP machine and buy the water for it in 1 gallon (4 litre) plastic jugs. What I have been doing is using 2 distilled water jugs to pour my freshly boiled wort into (use a funnel of course). I am assuming the jugs are clean because all they ever had was distilled water in them but I do sanitize them.
I then put the jugs outside on my front step on a cold day (-10C/15F) to cool down. 2 is better than one because they cool faster three prob even better. Then pour the cooled wort from jugs into my 5 gal conical fermenter that I already have a couple gallons of cold water in and top it up with cold water. Seems to work pretty good. Not real concerned with oxidation from splashing around. I don't see why this wouldn't work using a deep freezer as well, but I haven't done that.

 

[KookyBrewsky]

As a Floridian, it's the dream to have to heat up a fermentation rather than cool it. The dream...

 

[TR6]

As a Floridian, it's the dream to have to heat up a fermentation rather than cool it. The dream...

well to add insult to injury, my basement provides the perfect temperature 60-68 F for fermenting my ales year round

 

[Kharnynb]

I've found it easier to put a big bucket with water and snow outside to cool, just the fermenter seems to take forever.