Papazian @ Palmer - Cooling the Wort

**tbone** · 03-22-2007, 12:02 AM

Papazian - Add two gal. of cold water to the fermentation vessel. Pour in the hot wort. Top off to 5 gal and wait until it cools. Then pitch.

Palmer - Ice bath before adding. Check temp and pitch.

Is one method better. Is their any advantage or disadvantage to either method.

(I eliminated the aeration of the wort that both talk about)

Erbium:YAG · 03-22-2007, 12:09 AM

An ice bath is definitely better than just mixing a couple of gallons of cool water and waiting. You want to drop your wort to pitching temperature as fast as possible. The best thing is to ultimately invest in a wort chiller. Don't get the idea of dumping ice into your wort either. Finally, DO NOT SKIP THE AERATION PART! Aerating your wort gives your yeast the oxygen it needs to do it's job. This is the only time in the process you do aerate.

Zymurgrafi · 03-22-2007, 12:12 AM

Some would argue that pouring hot wort can cause "hot side aeration" which supposedly will cause the beer to become stale later.

One advantage to the ice bath is that you can potentially cool it faster, which is ultimately better (less time to the start of fermentation, less chance of infections.

That said I have done it both ways and can not say I have noticed a difference flavor wise.

Now as to aeration, do you mean you skip aerating your wort? You should aerate your cooled wort as the yeasts needs the oxygen for a good fermentation.

Tophe · 03-22-2007, 01:08 AM

Ice bath it first, then you dont have to wait so long for it to cool. In the winter you can set it outside and it helps, in the summer, you just wait forever. I never cooled it to room temp in the bath, just for a little while , it probably got down to 160 or so.

I like to add some cool water to the fermenter, add the cooled wort. Then check temp and if its still warm, add cold water, if its close not so cold.

*My wort chiller will be here tomorrow, so I will not be doing it that way again!!*

the_Roqk · 03-22-2007, 01:37 AM

I may be a little new or just "rusty". When I Brew, I chill my wort (wort chiller) to about 120-130 F. Then pour into a fermentor filled with cold water (water that was previously in freezer for about 2 hours). My pitching temp will usually be around 70-74 F. It works for me. And I oxygenate the wort for about 2-3 min with pure O2.

paranode · 03-22-2007, 03:09 AM

I would do both if you don't have a chiller of some kind. Cool it as much as you can with an ice bath then pour it into cold water to cool it further. The ice bath alone is going to take a long time to bring it down unless you have lots of ice.

Ivan Lendl · 03-22-2007, 03:22 AM

Ice bath and wort chiller.

feedthebear · 03-22-2007, 04:01 AM

Its quicker to cool off 3 gallons of 200F wort to room temperature in an ice bath than to wait for 5 gallons of 133F wort to cool to room temperature without an ice bath and that assumes you used two gallons of 32F water to bring the temperature down.

**knipknup** · 03-22-2007, 12:27 PM

Pouring hot wort into a carboy is dangerous - if the wort is too hot, the thing will break. That alone is reason enough to not do it. Maybe you get away with it for the first couple times but that one where you don't...

**tbone** · 03-22-2007, 04:45 PM

Answering my own question - after further reading - (Palmer) stated that pouring the hot wort into cold water was acceptable before newer research showed that aerating hot or very warm wort creates a chemical reaction that will cause "off-flavors and aromas like wet cardboard or sherry". This problem is called "hot-side aeration or HSA".