Ghetto cooling methods

[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

So, I was looking at making a good clear SMaSH but I have a problem, I'm incapable of cooling the wort fast enough to prevent/limit chill haze. I usually chill in an ice bath because I don't have a wort chiller and I was curious how to adapt if I were to do what I used to do with my extract batches. Would it work if I boiled down to ~4 gallons and added a gallon-sized ice cube? I guess what I mean to say is I can't see getting all the sugars I want out of the mash in that little amount of water. Should I just do a regular mash/sparge/boil and just boil for a lot longer before adding first hop additions to reach my target volume? Would the time it takes to boil down that much effect SRM drastically?

 

[masskrug]

When I did extract batches I would put my water in the freezer and chill it to almost freezing (slushy). I would then add that to my wort.

 

[progmac]

stirring in a gallon-sized ice cube is very effective

 

[BinghamtonEd]

My wife gets mad when I finishing brewing and she goes to the fridge for ice and nothing comes out.I'm planning on making an immersion chiller this weekend. Around $30-40 when complete. And it'll probably look ghetto. You could do that.

 

[unionrdr]

I do an ice bath for the hot BK. But I block the sink with the BK in it,then fill with cold water. Let it sit till the water starts to warm,a couple minutes. Drain water,re-block sink. With BK still in sink,fill sink to the top with ice,then add tap water to the top. This effectively uses more ice than water,giving greater cooling capacity. Stir the wort now & then to chill faster.
But when it gets close to 70-75F,stop stiring & let the silty stuff settle to the bottom on the BK.
I put a couple gallons of the local spring water I use in the fridge a day or two before brew day to get good & cold. Strain the wort into the fermenter with a dual layer,fine mesh strainer to get out the floury/silty gunk from the partial mash that may've gotten into the BK. This also helps aerate the wort.
Then top off with chilled water to recipe volume. This usually gets it down to 60-61F. Stir roughly 5 minutes to mix well & aerate some more. Take hydrometer sample & pitch yeast.

 

[oakbarn]

When I did extract batches I would put my water in the freezer and chill it to almost freezing (slushy). I would then add that to my wort.

We used to buy the water at Wally World. We did spray the bottles with Star San before opening and adding but it worked.

We have since moved from IC to Plate Chillers. You should aspire to a plate chiller as they are amazing as a time saver.

 

[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

I'm not at a lack of good water, but it just seems like the ice bath doesn't cool the wort fast enough for really making a nice crystal clear non-chill-haze-forming product. In the past with partial mash batches the big fat ice cube worked wonders but I worry about getting all the sugars I can out of the mash with so little water. Also I worry about affecting the color and caramelizing it too much doing a super vigorous boil. Looking at plate chillers makes me drool but I don't have that kind of disposable income or I would. A Glycol system would be really ideal but oh dear god, sooo expensive.

 

[djt17]

I NoChill all my beers; I use whirlfloc in the kettle & gelatin in the keg. Most of my beers are less than 10 SRM. Not seeing any chill haze here.

 

[wilserbrewer]

The easiest solution to clear chill haze is to store your beer as cold As possible, I have pretty much found that time and temperature, along with patience clears most if not all brews...a little gelatin will speed the process, even with no chill brews.