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talani · 08-06-2012, 06:00 PM

I bought a copper wort chiller and put it right to work last night. I noticed that my tap water is a little over 80 degrees. Does this mean I cannot chill below 80 with the wort chiller? I'm doing ales, so I think I am trying to get to low 70's.

I guess I could pack the hose in ice?

**tre9er** · 08-06-2012, 06:03 PM

Either way, just rack to fermenter once you get to terminal temperature and set it in the fermentation chamber to finish cooling. Pitch once it's reached desired fermentation temp.

talani · 08-06-2012, 06:15 PM

Thansk. This sucks. I was hoping the chiller was the end of all my chilling machinations.

If I was smart, I would throw a couple of gallons in the fridge early in the day. I'm doing mini-mash right now so I top it off with a couple of gallons. I'll check the fridge temp. That would help me get below 80. I am sure. This step won't help me on all grain days, though.

**tre9er** · 08-06-2012, 06:23 PM

Another method is get a cheap pond-pump and put ice in a bucket full of water. Run water into the bucket to keep the fluid level constant until the output chiller-water becomes less "hotter than hell". Then simply recycle the output water into said bucket and keep adding ice.

**pannell77** · 08-06-2012, 06:25 PM

This should probably be moved to a different forum but beyond that....

multiple solutions are available to you:

1.submerge your boil kettle in an ice bath while chilling with wort chiller
2. get a pre-chiller which is essentially another wort chiller that you put in an ice batch so that the water entering your wort chiller is cold enough to get your wort down to pitching temps.
3. get a pond pump and just re-circulate the wort chiller water in an ice bath once you get the wort temp down to your water temp of 80*.
4. do all 4 of these if just get really excited.

talani · 08-07-2012, 01:26 PM

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I honestly don't think I would have bought the chiller if I had known it wasn't the final solution for wort chilling. I'm really disapointed.

The kind that I bought has some clear plastic hose between the copper coil and the hose connection (held with hose clamps). I think I am going to buy a really long hose to replace the short pieces that I have and run that through an ice bath before it goes into the copper. A second chiller is totally out of the question for me. I still need a brew kettle and liquor pot to get back to all grain.
I pitched the yeast at just under 80 this time if my thermometer is to be believed. It took about 12 hours, but the blow off tube now sounds like a strong and steady heart beat. I'll get it down to the low 70's next time.

billl · 08-07-2012, 01:32 PM

If it is any consolation, water temps vary considerably based on outdoor ground temps. Yours might be coming out of the tap at 80 right now, but for most of the year, it is probably substantially lower than that.

**tre9er** · 08-07-2012, 01:45 PM

Pond pumps are cheap, really cheap...so are the bilge pumps you can get at walmart. As mentioned, put one in bucket of ice water and you'll be golden.

As it stands, your chiller is fine. Just chill it down as low as you can go and seal it up in the ferm chamber. In a few hours, or the next day, just open it and toss the yeast in. No time, really.

**MalFet** · 08-07-2012, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by talani

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I honestly don't think I would have bought the chiller if I had known it wasn't the final solution for wort chilling. I'm really disapointed.

The kind that I bought has some clear plastic hose between the copper coil and the hose connection (held with hose clamps). I think I am going to buy a really long hose to replace the short pieces that I have and run that through an ice bath before it goes into the copper. A second chiller is totally out of the question for me. I still need a brew kettle and liquor pot to get back to all grain.
I pitched the yeast at just under 80 this time if my thermometer is to be believed. It took about 12 hours, but the blow off tube now sounds like a strong and steady heart beat. I'll get it down to the low 70's next time.

A word of caution: don't expect a longer hose to do much. Vinyl is a relatively poor heat conductor. I'd be surprised if you gained more than a couple of degrees.

**h22lude** · 08-07-2012, 02:17 PM

You have plenty of cheap options so don't get upset about it. You will have the same problem with any kind of chiller that uses tap water.

Pond pump is a very cheap and easy solution. You can also build a pre chiller for under $25 that will work well too. I would recommend one of these as it will not only bring the temp to what you want but it will do it much quicker than the chiller alone