Wort chilling opinion

I was browsing YouTube and found this vid:


What are some your opinions regarding how Jim Cook is cooling his wort? Is it more efficient or less? Thanks.

That's pretty interesting. I didn't know that Mr. Koch had a brewing series. I would think that ladling 3 gallons of beer would be very tedious, but I've never done it. Pretty cool.

I imagine he uses boils water and then freezes it into a big 2gal block in the bucket? Interesting, but the ladling thing seems antiquated to me. It also seems it would increase the time that the wort could be vulnerable to nasties getting in it?

But....who am I to question Jim Koch's techniques?

Ok, I will, he didn't spin his Hydrometer after putting in his sample. (Chapter 7 of the series)

He also did not flame-off before adding the LME...
And who adds hops by the TBS not the oz?

Troob?
I've always pronounced it like "cub"

Wurt?
I've always pronounced it like "port"

Pugilist said:

I imagine he uses boils water and then freezes it into a big 2gal block in the bucket? Interesting, but the ladling thing seems antiquated to me. It also seems it would increase the time that the wort could be vulnerable to nasties getting in it?

But....who am I to question Jim Koch's techniques?

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Same here. Ladling seems like you're going about it the hard way.
A strainer would make life SO much easier and will probably work better.

Pugilist said:

I imagine he uses boils water and then freezes it into a big 2gal block in the bucket?

Click to expand...

That's what I thought, but in one of those chapters he says he freezes store-bought gallons and then cuts the plastic off. I think this has actually been discussed on the forums before.

There is a pretty strong movement here in AUS to "Non Chilled brewing" These blokes take the hot wort straight from the boil and pout it into big plastic jugs and seal them. When the wort has cooled naturally, hours or days (or even sometimes months later) they crack open the sealed containers, add water and pitch their yeast.

There has been a LOT of discussion in the AUS forums about this.

I haven't invested in a wort chiller yet, so i just sanitise a bunch of containers, fill them with tap water and freeze them, the go straight from the boil, into fermenter and toss in about 10 litres worth of frozen ice blocks.

Seems to be working...

capcrnch said:

Troob?
I've always pronounced it like "cub"

Wurt?
I've always pronounced it like "port"

Click to expand...

It's definitely "trooooob". Wort is pronounced "wurt". The funny thing is my wife's maiden name is Wirt which is pronounced the same way.

Never saw those vids. I love Jim though, he's such a goof...

I don't think Jim ever really made beer that way but had to figure out a way to promote homebrewing as CHEAP and easy. If he advocated using a chiller, it's not cheap anymore. If he spashed the whole pot onto the ice in one shot, he probably anticipated the die hard brewers would give him a sh!tstorm of HSA criticism.

Jeebus, if that's how you make good beer mine should be world class. Did anyone notice the bucket looked like it had dirt on it? Mabey he's trying to teach how to make crappy beer so more people will buy Sam.:cross:

The yeast sitting out uncovered in "warm" water for an undetermined amount of time irked me too

Bobby_M said:

It's definitely "trooooob". Wort is pronounced "wurt". The funny thing is my wife's maiden name is Wirt which is pronounced the same way.

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Last night I was reading my Joy of Homebrewing and Papazian sounded it out in the book. I laughed.