Cooling down extract after boiling

dibby33 · 11-30-2006, 01:23 AM

I have just started experimenting with extract brewing (ye olde ripper was my first - the others were just kits with extras added).

The problem I have is cooling it down after boiling with the hops. I only have time to brew in the evening and need to cool the boil down quickly so I can get to sleep

The ideas I have so far are :
1. Freezing blocks of ice and adding them instead of the water.
2. Water and salt in the bath and putting the barrel in there - works for fish!
3. Leaving it over night and setting my alarm for 3am! Not my best option.

...if you have 1 litre of water at 100 degrees C and 1 litre of ice (i.e. 0 degrees C) if you add them together do you get 2 litres of water at 50 degrees C?

homebrewer_99 · 11-30-2006, 01:55 AM

How many gals do you boil?

I only boil 1.5 gals. I place 4-1 gal jugs in the freezer for 4-5 hours prior to brewing. After the wort is poured into the primary I top it off with the freezer water. Temps are down into the high 60s/low 70s in minutes.

**ajf** · 11-30-2006, 02:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dibby33

I have just started experimenting with extract brewing (ye olde ripper was my first - the others were just kits with extras added).

The problem I have is cooling it down after boiling with the hops. I only have time to brew in the evening and need to cool the boil down quickly so I can get to sleep

The ideas I have so far are :
1. Freezing blocks of ice and adding them instead of the water.
2. Water and salt in the bath and putting the barrel in there - works for fish!
3. Leaving it over night and setting my alarm for 3am! Not my best option.

...if you have 1 litre of water at 100 degrees C and 1 litre of ice (i.e. 0 degrees C) if you add them together do you get 2 litres of water at 50 degrees C?

1. Good idea if you can guarantee that the ice is sanitized. Bad idea otherwise. (Possible infections.)
2. A cold water bath works. An iced water bath works even better. A salted iced water bath would be marginally better than an unsalted one. Salt without ice is a waste of salt.
3. I just love to wake up at 3 AM to do what I should have done before I went to sleep.

1 liter of water + i liter ice will result in slightly less than 2 liters as ice is less dense than water (which is why it floats), but 1 Kg of water + 1 Kg of ice will equal 2 Kg ow water.

1 liter of water at 100 C + 1 liter of ice at 0 C will result in a little under 2 liters of water at less that 50 C. (It takes a large number of calories to convert ice to water), so the water will be cooled by more than the ice - converted to water - warms up. Sorry, I cannot remember what the ratio is as that brain cell has died.

-a.

dibby33 · 11-30-2006, 02:18 AM

Ye olde ripper had 7 litres (1.8 of your US Gallons) but by the time 6Kg of malt extract was added it filled about 12 litres (3.1 Gallons).

The problem with the heat retention would have been due to the high sugar concentrate me thinx. I don't normally make them this strong (normally around 5-6) but I felt like a change

I just had never heard of putting frozen / freezer chilled water in. sounds a lot simplier! Even just icecream cartons filled and ready to go would be helpful (assuming they are small enough to fit through the lid of the barrel!)

Cheers

...now where is that icecream!

Sir Humpsalot · 11-30-2006, 02:22 AM

First. Dumb question. Man, I know this is dumb, but I don't know the answer so I'll just come right out and ask... What if you just dropped some Dry Ice into it? You could have it chilled in less than 30 seconds. Seriously, would that work? There's a hardware store that sells dry ice for a buck or two a pound.

On to more serious methods.

Ice method 1: Put water into a ziplock bag. Put the bag in a pot of boiling water along with another ziplock bag. Take the bag out, put the bag full of water inside it, and seal the outer bag. Throw it in your freezer overnight. When ready to chill the wort, remove the outer bag and toss in the inner bag.

Option 2. Immersion Chiller: Go to Home depot, buy 20' of 3/8" copper tubing, some vinyl tubing to fit over it, and a stopper that will fit into your kitchen faucet. Put the tube through the stopper (drilling may be necessary), connect it to the copper. Coil the copper to fit in the pot. Connect another piece of tubing to run from the coil to the sink drain. Turn on the faucet, the water runs through at 40 degrees and comes out at 180 degrees or so.

Option 3: Ice bath, with or without ice.

dibby33 · 11-30-2006, 02:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajf

1. Good idea if you can guarantee that the ice is sanitized. Bad idea otherwise. (Possible infections.)
2. A cold water bath works. An iced water bath works even better. A salted iced water bath would be marginally better than an unsalted one. Salt without ice is a waste of salt.
3. I just love to wake up at 3 AM to do what I should have done before I went to sleep.

1 liter of water + i liter ice will result in slightly less than 2 liters as ice is less dense than water (which is why it floats), but 1 Kg of water + 1 Kg of ice will equal 2 Kg ow water.

1 liter of water at 100 C + 1 liter of ice at 0 C will result in a little under 2 liters of water at less that 50 C. (It takes a large number of calories to convert ice to water), so the water will be cooled by more than the ice - converted to water - warms up. Sorry, I cannot remember what the ratio is as that brain cell has died.

-a.

Sorry - forgot to add the ice to the bath

Ta for your explaination - it makes sense.

dibby33 · 11-30-2006, 02:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toot

First. Dumb question. Man, I know this is dumb, but I don't know the answer so I'll just come right out and ask... What if you just dropped some Dry Ice into it? You could have it chilled in less than 30 seconds. Seriously, would that work? There's a hardware store that sells dry ice for a buck or two a pound.

On to more serious methods.

Ice method 1: Put water into a ziplock bag. Put the bag in a pot of boiling water along with another ziplock bag. Take the bag out, put the bag full of water inside it, and seal the outer bag. Throw it in your freezer overnight. When ready to chill the wort, remove the outer bag and toss in the inner bag.

Option 2. Immersion Chiller: Go to Home depot, buy 20' of 3/8" copper tubing, some vinyl tubing to fit over it, and a stopper that will fit into your kitchen faucet. Put the tube through the stopper (drilling may be necessary), connect it to the copper. Coil the copper to fit in the pot. Connect another piece of tubing to run from the coil to the sink drain. Turn on the faucet, the water runs through at 40 degrees and comes out at 180 degrees or so.

Option 3: Ice bath, with or without ice.

I like the dry ice idea. I am in Tasmania though and maybe a little difficult to obtain. Would look good though - like some mad experiement

The copper pipe is worth a try, the only problem would be the temperature of the water coming out of the tap being warm in the summer (even for cold tap!)

I think my best bet is to make clean ice blocks. SHMBO did mention about buying a chest freezer

Putting jugs in the freezer is not an option as my beer fridge does not have enough space and "food" freezer is normally full of food.

Monk · 11-30-2006, 02:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by homebrewer_99

How many gals do you boil?

I only boil 1.5 gals. I place 4-1 gal jugs in the freezer for 4-5 hours prior to brewing. After the wort is poured into the primary I top it off with the freezer water. Temps are down into the high 60s/low 70s in minutes.

Sorry Dibby, this is

Please pardon.

HB, do you really just boil 1.5 gallons? I assume you don't have any problems with carmelization because of your late extract addition technique. I've heard so many people rave about full boils that I felt like it was almost mandatory. What do you think?

monk

Torchiest · 11-30-2006, 02:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toot

Ice method 1: Put water into a ziplock bag. Put the bag in a pot of boiling water along with another ziplock bag. Take the bag out, put the bag full of water inside it, and seal the outer bag. Throw it in your freezer overnight. When ready to chill the wort, remove the outer bag and toss in the inner bag.

Wouldn't that melt the plastic if you put it in boiling water?

dibby33 · 11-30-2006, 02:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Torchiest

Wouldn't that melt the plastic if you put it in boiling water?

Shouldn't do. I use the same bags for freezing food (i.e. chilli con carni) and just shove them in the microwave with no problems, some spots of the bag must get above 100degrees and no problems.