Waiting for the wort to cool
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SumnerH
Well-Known Member
Here's what I did with icewater baths:
1. Flameout
2. Put lid on pot to transfer
3. Take lid off, and stir pot with paddle while stirring ice with hand or whatever
4. If I needed to add ice or water, put lid back on during that process.
Taking things from boiling down to 80F takes only 20 minutes, and that's plenty cool if you're topping off with well-refrigerated water.
In theory, yes, the longer you're exposed to the air the greater the risk of wild yeast or whatever contaminating things. In practice, I never had a problem--but I never took longer than 20 minutes, which isn't all that much longer than it takes to cool with a chiller.
1. Flameout
2. Put lid on pot to transfer
3. Take lid off, and stir pot with paddle while stirring ice with hand or whatever
4. If I needed to add ice or water, put lid back on during that process.
Taking things from boiling down to 80F takes only 20 minutes, and that's plenty cool if you're topping off with well-refrigerated water.
In theory, yes, the longer you're exposed to the air the greater the risk of wild yeast or whatever contaminating things. In practice, I never had a problem--but I never took longer than 20 minutes, which isn't all that much longer than it takes to cool with a chiller.
hossua
Member
If you are doing a partial boil I have found that using some ice as top off works very well. Just make sure the ice is sanitary.
ghack
Well-Known Member
Adding Ice to the wort is a bit of a gamble on the infection front.
In partial boils, I chill a plastic jug of top off water or two to near freezing and add along with room temp water until a reasonable pitching temp is reached.
In partial boils, I chill a plastic jug of top off water or two to near freezing and add along with room temp water until a reasonable pitching temp is reached.
Hang Glider
Beer Drinker
There are several threads that discuss ice - but the basic result is that it is clean. It needs to be handled in the same manner we do everything with brewing - sanitize the outside of the bag, your hands, etc -
Back when I was doing partial boils, I used ice for my top-off everytime. no problems.
Sanitation is key.
Back when I was doing partial boils, I used ice for my top-off everytime. no problems.
Sanitation is key.
There technically is a higher risk of contamination, but there are people here in the forums experimenting with an Australian technique of not even chilling the wort, just leaving it covered overnight to get down to pitching temps (I wish I could find the thread right now). So, as long as you have good sanitary practices, and are careful, I don't think it will be TOO big of a concern.
You can keep the lid on, but that slows the cooling process A LOT. I usually put the lid 1/2 on to try to keep large particulates outs, though now I built my IC I won't have to worry anymore 
But I wouldn't worry too much about contamination from the air, you going to be putting a lot of that air into your wort to aerate it anyway, right?
But I wouldn't worry too much about contamination from the air, you going to be putting a lot of that air into your wort to aerate it anyway, right?I know a guy who does that. ANd I'm happy to report that the IPA I made last night is bubbling away!
SumnerH
Well-Known Member
You can keep the lid on, but that slows the cooling process A LOT. I usually put the lid 1/2 on to try to keep large particulates outs, though now I built my IC I won't have to worry anymore
Agreed on the sanitation.
The key to fast cooling in an ice bath for me was constant gentle stirring of the pot and the ice. Move the warmest water away from the pot, move the coolest wort into the middle of the pot.
splifs
Well-Known Member
I did this with my first batch not really knowing any better and it turned out pretty good, just kept everything as clean as I could
This.
Keep that wort moving so the heat can exchange with the kettle walls. Otherwise you have 100F wort on the outside perimeter and 130F wort in the center.
An immersion chiller's the same way, you gotta keep it moving or it won't cool nearly as quickly.
Just a nice stir every couple minutes and the temp will plummet.
This is good to hear. Last time, it took a lot longer than I would've liked to cool, because my ice melted almost immediately. This time, I planned ahead and fill as many bowls, tupperware containers and plastic bottles with water and froze them. I'll make sure to keep the wort (and ice water) moving while it cools.
