Rookie question

woopig · 08-15-2009, 11:30 PM

Hey everyone, quick question from a newbie. Just did first solo batch (helped a friend last week with one), doing a pale ale from an extract kit. I bought an immersion chiller last week, but I had no idea how long it would take to chill the wort even with it.

I've now been running it about an hour or so and am only at 83 degrees. I'm paranoid about contamination, so here's the question:

what's the lesser of two evils, to go ahead and pitch at this temp, or to let the fermenter sit open and potentially getting contaminated for the next hour?

Do you guys have some way to close off the fermenter while you chill? I need to figure something better than this out, have read about pumps in ice water and such but didn't think this would be such a problem.

Thanks in advance

**Yooper** · 08-15-2009, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by woopig

Hey everyone, quick question from a newbie. Just did first solo batch (helped a friend last week with one), doing a pale ale from an extract kit. I bought an immersion chiller last week, but I had no idea how long it would take to chill the wort even with it.

I've now been running it about an hour or so and am only at 83 degrees. I'm paranoid about contamination, so here's the question:

what's the lesser of two evils, to go ahead and pitch at this temp, or to let the fermenter sit open and potentially getting contaminated for the next hour?

Do you guys have some way to close off the fermenter while you chill? I need to figure something better than this out, have read about pumps in ice water and such but didn't think this would be such a problem.

Thanks in advance

It only takes me about 20 minutes to chill my wort with a wort chiller- but I have cold ground water. If you gently stir the wort with a sanitized spoon, it'll chill much faster.

Rick500 · 08-15-2009, 11:35 PM

You really want to use your chiller in your brew kettle, not in your fermenter. [Edit: I may have misunderstood your post... you don't have the chiller in the fermenter, do you?]

Put the chiller into the brew kettle during the last 15 minutes of the boil, to sanitize the chiller.

How long it takes to chill, depends on the temperature of your tap water.

If you've already put the wort into the fermenter, close it up and let it sit in an icewater bath until it gets down to pitching temperature.

woopig · 08-15-2009, 11:43 PM

Told you I was a rookie, yes, the chiller is in the fermenter. Didn't realize this was a problem, I had it sitting in the Iodophor the entire time so thought it was clean enough.

Is this a big enough deal that I should bail out on this batch, learn from the mistake, and start over? Thanks again, guys

**Yooper** · 08-15-2009, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by woopig

Told you I was a rookie, yes, the chiller is in the fermenter. Didn't realize this was a problem, I had it sitting in the Iodophor the entire time so thought it was clean enough.

Is this a big enough deal that I should bail out on this batch, learn from the mistake, and start over? Thanks again, guys

Well, it's not really a problem. You want to chill the wort. Then, you add it to the fermenter with any top-up water. If you took hot wort, and then put it in the fermenter, you would risk aerating it before it was cool. (That brings up hot-side aeration, which isn't really an issue but many people talk about that as the reason to not aerate hot wort).

Also, if you have done a partial boil, adding your top up water before the wort is cool just means that you have more volume to chill.

Next time, put the chiller into the boil with 15 minutes left to sanitize it. Then, when the boil is over, turn on the water to the chiller. Stir gently with a sanitized spoon, to maximize cooling, then pour into the fermenter. Pouring also helps to aerate the wort.

Rick500 · 08-15-2009, 11:48 PM

Okay, well, as long as it was sanitized it probably won't be a problem. Just use it in the kettle next time.

At this point, if it's still not down to pitching temp, pull the chiller outta there, put the lid on, and put it in a sink of ice water. It'll be down to temp in no time.

P.S.: Beer is a *lot* more resilient than you might think. It's hard to mess it up. It'll be fine.

**Nurmey** · 08-15-2009, 11:51 PM

I doubt your beer is ruined so you might as well finish it up. As Rick said, put the fermenter in a water bath to help bring the temp down and get that yeast pitched. Wait for 3 to 4 weeks and you should be able to bottle it up.

Welcome to HBT!

woopig · 08-16-2009, 12:06 AM

I appreciate the tips, guys. I got it to 78 degrees and went ahead and pitched it. I read a post on the "Did I ruin my beer"/"Should I dump my batch" sticky and saw that a few people said pitching at this temp wasn't a huge deal.

Lessons for next time:

1. Obviously, using the wort chiller appropriately (in the kettle as you all pointed out), and
2. Start with cooler top-off water (in the fridge for a while first?). I had boiled it, then kept it covered in an attempt to keep out contaminants. Not the best idea in retrospect, it was probably around 100 degrees so that didn't help things.

Thanks for such quick responses, great forum!

dantose · 08-16-2009, 12:44 AM

I don't generally boil/sanitize top off water. It's just right from the tap. I don't really have the gear to do all that boiling. If I did, I'd just be doing full boils.

JebCkr · 08-16-2009, 01:12 AM

For future reference, get 2 or 3 gallons of water (88 cents ea) and stick them in the freezer to use as top off water. Or you can always pour over sanitary ice.