wort cool down

[skidoobrewer]

now I got a foolish question. after your wort is done boiling you should cool it down below 80 degrees before adding your yeast, then you add enough water to bring it to 5 gallons, so could I just add cold water to it, instead of taking 45 min to cool it in a sink?

 

[freisste]

now I got a foolish question. after your wort is done boiling you should cool it down below 80 degrees before adding your yeast, then you add enough water to bring it to 5 gallons, so could I just add cold water to it, instead of taking 45 min to cool it in a sink?

It depends on your final volume after boil (before top off).

In general, it won't work well to cool your wort that way. It is much faster to cool 3 gallons of wort from 212 to 80 than to cool 5 gallons the same temperature range. So your best bet is to cool it as much as you reasonably can, then top off with very cold water. This is much faster and more economical than adding cold water to boiling wort and waiting for the last bit of cooling.

If you somehow had an ultra concentrated wort (like 5 gallon batch condensed to a half gallon) then it would work great. I don't think that's particularly realistic though.

 

[Hammy71]

Yes, but it will take some trial and error. For me I kept about 4 gallons of water in the refrigerator. I first cool the wort in the sink (with the ice/cold water method) til it got to around 100 degrees. Then I would dump the wort into my fermenter. I would top off with enough refrigerated water to get me to my five gallons. Wort always ended up at around 75 degrees. That's what worked for me, but your results may vary.

 

[shtoive87]

The only thing I'd be worried about is keeping things sanitized. If you can boil the water before cooling in the fridge, that would work well.

 

[BansheeRider]

The only thing I'd be worried about is keeping things sanitized. If you can boil the water before cooling in the fridge, that would work well.

Or buy two gallons of spring water from the store the night before brew day. I cool my wort (about 4 gal) to 72 degrees and then add cold spring water, gets the temp down to 64 degrees which is a perfect pitching temp.

 

[Sudsy426]

Or buy two gallons of spring water from the store the night before brew day. I cool my wort (about 4 gal) to 72 degrees and then add cold spring water, gets the temp down to 64 degrees which is a perfect pitching temp.

This^^^^^^

 

[skidoobrewer]

This^^^^^^

yuuuup I was thinking of doing it that way. thanks for the advise everyone I think this home brewing might be addictive, I got one ale in the fermenter, getting reading to make some hard cider next week, and I just ordered some more goodies and another recipe kit today, I tell you what ill have more friends in a month.

 

[ballsy]

yuuuup I was thinking of doing it that way. thanks for the advise everyone I think this home brewing might be addictive, I got one ale in the fermenter, getting reading to make some hard cider next week, and I just ordered some more goodies and another recipe kit today, I tell you what ill have more friends in a month.

I posted on this before and will again...go to the dollar store buy their 5 packs of tupperware. Day before brewing, dip the tupperware and lids in star san then fill with tap water (boiled or just straight from tap) so you have 8 or 9 containers full. Put in freezer. And next day you have nice clean ice to put into the fermenter. I put about 7 blocks in , pour hot wort on to it and transfer back and forth bw pot and fermenter till blocks melted. Usually at mid 60's in 5min's! My post boil vol is usually around 3gal so I still top off with water even after ice melted.

 

[Corneykeg]

I brewed for the first time this weekend and used a wort chiller. It worked great reducing it to around 90, but seemed to stall there. So I added wort to carboy and added spring water to reach my 5 gallons. It dropped the temp enough as well