Question about chilling wort...

Hey all! Just found the forum today and was excited to find all this info in one place (I'm kind of a forum junkie). Anyhow, I have a question... I'm just about to start my first brew with the "Brewers Best" kit and got to reading the procedures last night. When chilling the wort how do you recommend doing it? Is the submersion chiller worth the 60 bucks or is there another method used? I know the instructions said to put the hot wort in ice water but apparently that takes a very long time. With that method do you submerge the pot you boiled in or do you transfer to the fermentation bucket and then chill?

Thanks in advance for the help! If this turns out as good as my neighbors first batch in his Mr. Beer kit I'm going to be a happy camper!

You submerge the pot you boiled in, and while that method does work, the immersion chiller is so much faster. Personally, I think it's worth the money. Which kit are you brewing?

I built my own wort chiller.. All the parts can be bought at local hardware store for around $20.. I also found a method to tackle two birds with one stone.. I chill my wort with the chiller to half the desired temp, then I transfer wort to my 5 gal bucket with the spicket on the bottom.
I open the drain and allow wort to fall about 3 feet into primary fermenter. This chills wort while oxygenating it. Saves time.. I've even skipped the wort chiller completely and went straight to the "falling chill method"...
The slower it falls into the primary the faster it will chill

Immersion chillers can be made by yourself for a little cheaper but I would say an ice bath is a good way to do it initially.

I Made a chiller last week for about £25 and it works fantastic !

unionrdr said:

Just put the brew kettle in the sink,lid on is safer. Fill the empty space with cold water for a couple minutes to knock off some of the initial heat. Drain sink,re-plug,& fill empty space to the top of the sink with ice. Then top that off with cold water. Stir wort in pot occasionally. It should cool down to 70 in about 20 minutes. 20 minutes or less is good to virtually eliminate chill haze at fridge time.

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^ This is exactly what I do and I have easily cooled my 3.5 gal partial boils down to 67 degrees in under 20 minutes. it does take 16 lbs of ice to do it though at $2.50 per bag of ice (unless you have an ice maker)...so buying ice in the long run a wort chiller makes sense.

PIGMAN said:

You submerge the pot you boiled in, and while that method does work, the immersion chiller is so much faster. Personally, I think it's worth the money. Which kit are you brewing?

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I'm doing the Brewers Best Weisenbier, it's similar to the one my buddy did and I loved it. I figure if it came out that good with a cheaper kit I'd step it up a notch. Not trying to say anything bad about Mr Beer because his brew was awesome.

I started chilling with ice and it took quite a while to do so, depending on time of year and how much ice and such. Too many variables IMO. You want that wort to get down to pitch temp asap to prevent bacteria getting in and contaminating the wort. It certainly is a cheap, easy method to do and your choice. However, I use an immersion chiller on all my brews and I can say without a doubt I could never go without it. It does it in a fraction of the time, especially if you stir while it chills and you get get the yeast pitched. The only thing better would be a counterflow chiller, which I will probably use once my eHERMS is done. Just my 2 cents worth on the matter.

Well, if your doing ice baths at 20 min. then the 15 min it takes me isn't much difference, no. But I can do it in ~15 min regardless of time of year. Plus, tbh, I could care less how much water I push through as long as the end result gets you where you need to be. But, it def sounds ice is a good alternative if you're doing it right. But it's really personal preference, I stick with the chiller, lol.

If you were smart you would go out and buy a 50' coil of soft copper and bend wrap two coils one 30' and another 20'. You could them use the 20' coil as a prechiller in a bucket of ice to make sure the water running through your beer is nice and cold.

The ice bath doesn't work if you're boiling anything over 3 gallons because it will take a while to cool.

Good info, thanks! I think what Might do for the first brew is do a lot of ice in a keg tub. After that I might try the chiller. I suppose in the long run its cheaper to do the chiller than to have to buy loads of ice every time. Copper is pretty expensive here too.

I'm on my fifth batch. Bought the immersion chiller (ss version) after the third one. Wish I had done it sooner. What a difference! I was ready to pitch the yeast less than a half-hour after the boil was done. And I wasn't tempted to pitch at 90 degrees just because it was taking so long. Pitched at 72. Get one. It's well worth it.

Reading is clearly overrated. For me a 50' spool of soft copper was the same as a 25' premade chiller at the lhbs. Another 5 - 10 bucks and the chiller is ready for business for adapters, hose clamps, and hoses.

BryanJ said:

Reading is clearly overrated. For me a 50' spool of soft copper was the same as a 25' premade chiller at the lhbs. Another 5 - 10 bucks and the chiller is ready for business for adapters, hose clamps, and hoses.

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So how much did it cost you all together? And reading/watching videos is a far better way to learn that jumping in blindly. I've often wondered how well aluminum tubing would work?

That i'm not sure about i think the copper was around 50-60, it was a few years ago so the prices have probably changed.

With copper prices being what they are these days, I think even if there is a difference in price between making it yourself and buying one, you should buy one just to avoid the frustration of kinking $30 worth of tubing and rendering it useless, not to mention the fact that you know a premade one will have all the correct fittings and tubing. I love my chiller, though. I couldn't brew without it.

Well I was going to go the ice route but maybe I'll try the chiller... I'm a guy who likes his toys and hobbies! I do have a friend who has a machine shop and can do/build/fix/creat anything that is made of metal. If I can find copper for a
Decent price I know I can get him to spool it for me.

This forum is awesome! I'm sitting at work stuck in a tractor (I work for a farmer) and reading all the threads... I love it!