Wort chill best tips

[aaronius79]

I was considering using frozen spring water (after boiling it) and pouring the wort directly over it to cool it quicker. If I boil the water, freeze it in sanitized container, and then put the ice directly in my fermenting bucket with the boiled wort would that cool it quicker than using an ice bath?

Also, what if I poured the wort in the fermenting bucket with chilled spring water and then put the lid on. Could I just let it sit for a few hours until it was at pitch temp?

How important is it to pitch the yeast ASAP? 30 minutes till cooled vs several hours or a day until cooled?

 

[rodwha]

I don't see why using frozen boiled water wouldn't be just fine.

With a water and water/ice bath I generally get it below 75* within about 30 mins +/-.

I also chill my filtered tap water for top off.

I think it's a good idea to pitch as soon as you can as it allows the yeast a better chance in case of something bad, but there are several people who pitch much later than a few hours.

 

[myndflyte]

Assuming you aren't doing a full volume boil, you could do the frozen spring water thing. I've done that before and it helps to cool it pretty quick. Cooling it quickly helps to bring out the cold break which are just proteins that can cause chill haze. It's mainly an aesthetic thing. There are some who will go straight from boiling, dump it in their fermenter (assuming it can handle the high temps), seal it up with an airlock and wait until it naturally cools off before pitching the yeast.

 

[jekeane]

My understanding is the No chill method pitches after a day sometimes with no ill effects. The key to that method is keeping your wort sanitary for the duration before pitching.

There are some clarity issues between fast and slow chilling which can be important for competitions and possibly the lifespan of the beer.

As for using frozen sanitized water people do it and make good beer. I haven't myself as I have always used carboys. Just be clean about everything.

One thing about an ice bath is it pulls the residual heat out of the metal so a combination of both methods would probably be ideal.

 

[TopherM]

Get an immersion chiller. You'll never even think about ice baths again :rockin:

 

[jekeane]

Get an immersion chiller. You'll never even think about ice baths again :rockin:

I kind of feel that way. But living in FL I still have to create a pre chiller ice bath most of the year for the Immersion Chiller to be effective.

 

[TopherM]

I live in FL as well. I have a counterflow chiller, but when I did have a 25 ft. immersion chiller, I just coiled up the hose in ice, and it worked just fine.

Even my ground water is around 80-82F in summer, which means that you can get pretty close to 80-82 with an immersion chiller. The guy I brew with uses an immersion chiller, gets the temp down to about 85-90, then racks to a carboy and puts the carboy in an ice bath in his mash tun. He cleans up while the wort finishes chilling, and the wort is 70ish by the time he's done cleaning up.

 

[kingogames]

+1 on no chill. I've been doing this for a while now with no ill effects. After the boil, I put a sanitized lid on my brew kettle and just leave it until the next day. The next day, the wort is down to room temp, which here is the perfect pitching temp. Wort goes right into the just sanitized fermenter, oxygenated and yeast goes right in and I'm done.

Never had a problem, and the wort settles for several hours keeping a lot of trub out of the fermenter.

It works for me.

 

[AkTom]

You could move to Alaska. Well water is very cold up here. I go from boiling to 60° in about 16-17 minutes. Just kidding about the moving part. Call groundwater does great things for your immersion chiller.

 

[VonAle]

I live in AZ where the tap water is 85-90.
I use a submersible fountain pump, and recirculate ice water thru my IC.

I get 6 gals down to 60 degrees in about 15-20 minutes with about 15 lbs ice.

 

[CBXBob]

Lucky for me my well water is probably 56 degrees, with my homemade 25ft IC I get the wort to 90 in about 15 min, top up my primary with chilled unopened bottled spring water, and pitch at about 80 to 85. Usually have activity in 4 to 8 hours. My first 2 brews were ice bath, enough of a PIA to warrant the IC. It cost me about $40 in materials to make my IC, it's not pretty, but works like a champ Just my opinion, but cooling quickly just helps to minimize the chance contamination after the wort gets below the 160 degrees pasteurization point. The longer it's below that, the more possible the chance of infection.