Wort Chilling in kettle

Hello,

So, I haven't committed to a wort chiller yet (cleaning equipment is already hard enough in my tiny house) and I had an idea yesterday and wondering if anyone has ever tried this.

I have an 8 gallon boil kettle that I usually let sit in an ice water bath in my sink. I usually have to change the water three times to get the wort down to 80 degrees, and it usually takes about an hour.

I also have an old 10 gallon kettle that I don't use for brewing. It's an old pasta sauce pot and isn't in very good shape. If I put my 8 gallon kettle inside the 10 gallon kettle, I have about a good 1.5 inches of space, and the handles from my boil kettle rest on the top of the 10 gallon kettle.

I was thinking of drilling holes around the top of the 10 gallon kettle, and then just letting water run into the 1.5 inch space. Essentially, filling up the 10 gallon kettle, and consistently draining water through the holes.

Has anyone ever tried this? Don't see any reason why it wouldn't cool the wort faster. I think I might try it when I make my next batch.

Thanks

I don't see why it wouldn't work. You might try a hose attachment from your sink and drop it into the bottom of the 10 gallon kettle so the water circulates a little better.

Jwpj said:

Hello,

So, I haven't committed to a wort chiller yet (cleaning equipment is already hard enough in my tiny house) and I had an idea yesterday and wondering if anyone has ever tried this.

I have an 8 gallon boil kettle that I usually let sit in an ice water bath in my sink. I usually have to change the water three times to get the wort down to 80 degrees, and it usually takes about an hour.

I also have an old 10 gallon kettle that I don't use for brewing. It's an old pasta sauce pot and isn't in very good shape. If I put my 8 gallon kettle inside the 10 gallon kettle, I have about a good 1.5 inches of space, and the handles from my boil kettle rest on the top of the 10 gallon kettle.

I was thinking of drilling holes around the top of the 10 gallon kettle, and then just letting water run into the 1.5 inch space. Essentially, filling up the 10 gallon kettle, and consistently draining water through the holes.

Has anyone ever tried this? Don't see any reason why it wouldn't cool the wort faster. I think I might try it when I make my next batch.

Thanks

Click to expand...

I chill my Wort in my sink also. Two days before I brew I fill 4 or 5 1qt. plastic bottles and use them along with ice and that cools the wort fairly quickly.

That should definitely help. Heat transfer is affected most by three things (nerd alert):

1. Temperature difference b/w wort and cooling water - as long as your sink water is quite cool, the differential will be high. Cooling with an ice bath obviously has lower temperatures (~0 deg C) then sink water, but that doesn't matter too much due mostly to point 3 below.

2. Surface Area - a five gallon pot has lots of surface area, especially if you fill the water level to the wort level. The surface area for each method will be the same however, so point 3 again is the most significant.

3. Water velocity - this changes the heat transfer coefficient. If the holes allow the water to drain quite fast while maintaining a full "jacket" of water around the kettle, then the speed of the water flowing by will be quite fast. This can be enhanced even more by gently stirring the wort with a sanitized spoon (although that will kick up some solids if you're worried about that). This will use a lot more water however obviously.

In summary, you are making your temp differential slightly smaller which slows down the process, but are drastically increasing the heat transfer coefficient with faster water rates, which I think will cool the wort much faster overall.

Be sure to post back your results after you try it!!

NBE

Don't ruin your other pot. Just use the "no chill" method. Or what I like to call the "slow chill". I do 6 gal batches... Stovetop BIAB. For chilling, I do a water bath in the sink (no ice) for a couple of water changes, until the kettle is cool enough to carry outside.

Then outside she goes. Chills overnight in the kettle. I put binder clamps on the lid to keep critters out but otherwise out in the open. Cools to pitching temps by the next day.

Has an added advantage of letting you make real wort starters (RWS) that you can direct pitch without decanting.