Cooling your wort

I currently use an ice bath. I use way to much ice to cool down my wort. Currently nearly 12 pounds per batch. I thought about sterilizing some plastic bags or water bottles filled with ice and submerging them in it. Do you have any other methods you use?

A wort chiller

https://www.google.com/search?q=wort+chiller

I wouldn't use plastic bags, as this is still going to be almost 200 F wort at the start, so the plastic bags aren't quite hearty enough and may melt.

Plenty of people on this board sanatize plastic bottles, fill them with boiled then frozen water, and submerge them. I'll tell you that it isn't going to speed up your cool down THAT much compared to an ice bath, and it can't be more sanitary than an ice bath, since you are actually putting plastic into your wort.

I transfer from my newer SS kettle into my old aluminum kettle before my ice bath. Aluminum conducts heat and cool much better than SS, which is a bit of a disadvantage in mashing/boiling, but a distinct advantage in cooling wort. I can go from 212 to 70 in my aluminum kettle in right at 18 minutes with 25 lbs of ice in my sink. I recently got a plate chiller for Xmas, so I'm all done with that here soon as well.

I'd stick with the ice bath if I were you and start saving up for a immercian chiller, counterflow chilller, or plate chiller, each of which can be had for around $60-90.

i went to the home depot and bought a 20' 3/8ths inch id copper coil for 13 bucks a few feet of vinal tube for like 3 bucks and a garden hose adapter with some worm clamps total cost was about 20 bucks and i cooled 3 gal of wort from 211 to 62 in 7 min on sunday

Aside from a wort chiller you can probably use your ice a little more efficiently. When I used to do the ice bath method it took me around 10 bags for the first couple of times. But from ~200* down to ~100* is easy and water by itself is enough to do the job. What I'm trying to say is, save your ice till you get down to about 100*. Last time I chilled with an ice bath I think I only used maybe 3 bags for a 5 gallon batch.

i was just looking at some immersion chillers. How can running cold tap water be effective and cool so fast?

It's all about surface area. You've got a ton of surface submerged in the beer with an immersion chiller, and copper is REALLY effective at transferring heat.

It's all about surface area. You've got a ton of surface submerged in the beer with an immersion chiller, and copper is REALLY effective at transferring heat.

Click to expand...

+1 to this. Immercial Chillers, Plate Chillers, and Counterflow Chillers all work on the same principle as car radiators and electonics heatsinks - there is something hot running through a closed area or tubing/plates and you run something cold on the other side of that plate. The two mediums exchange temperatures in an attempt to reach a temperature equilibrium, so the hot side cools while the cool side heats. The more surface area, the faster they move towards the cooler temp.

It's the same in principle as the ice bath as well, there is just a relatively small surface area in the ice bath that is conducting heat/cool exchange.

Spencecore24 said:

I currently use an ice bath. I use way to much ice to cool down my wort. Currently nearly 12 pounds per batch. I thought about sterilizing some plastic bags or water bottles filled with ice and submerging them in it. Do you have any other methods you use?

Click to expand...

Purchased a Duda Diesel wort chiller this season -- love it!

Good quality, cost competitive product that is amazingly effective. Even with my warm (usually about 80F) "chilling" water here in the tropics I can bring 5 gallons of wort down to pitchable temps (< 90F) in minutes.

+1k on wort chiller...

I used to do the ice baths (messy, pita, time consuming, and loud (do most of my brewing at night while the kiddies are sleeping))

Went from, cooling 3 gal from 25 min to literally 5 min at the most

Use 5 24 oz sanitized food storage containers full of frozen filtered water.
Makes giant ice cubes roughly 1 gallon in volume.
Ice bath with frozen 2L bottles in the bathtub. Whirlpool frequently.
Went from 200 - 75 in about 20 minutes.

- B916

Spencecore24 said:

I currently use an ice bath. I use way to much ice to cool down my wort. Currently nearly 12 pounds per batch. I thought about sterilizing some plastic bags or water bottles filled with ice and submerging them in it. Do you have any other methods you use?

Click to expand...

Is the garden hose adapter found in with the brass pipe hardware? What size fits a garden hose?

I pour water kept in the fridge (stored in the freezer for 30-60 mintes while I do the boil to chill it further) into the wort while chilling. It kills two birds with one stone: chills the wort and adds water to get to the 5 gallon volume.

I generally add the water after letting the wort chiller run for 5 minutes or so, as the higher temperature differential when the wort is straight off the stove makes the wort chiller more efficient.

johnp said:

Is the garden hose adapter found in with the brass pipe hardware? What size fits a garden hose?

Click to expand...

I think garden hose is 3/4" but it has its own thread pitch which is Garden Hose Thread GHT

I use a counter flow chiller. I don't like anything to touch the wort after the boil..

Is a pump required with a counterflow chiller?

Iqbal624 said:

Is a pump required with a counterflow chiller?

Click to expand...

I've used it with out a pump. But its easier with the pump. The wort can be moved with a siphon tho. Or check out chuggerpumps.com

I currently use mine (Duda Diesel) w/out a pump and it works fine...a little slow to start the siphon because of having the plate in the middle. I coax it along a bit by pinching off the hose just below the brew kettle and then squeezing it like a priming bulb...that helps push the wort through the plates and get it moving into the fermentor.

Here in the tropics my "cooling water" is relatively warm (about 80F). So, I plan to rig with a pump next season so that I can recirculate the wort until I reach the temp I want before diverting to the fermentor.

Curtis2010 said:

Here in the tropics my "cooling water" is relatively warm (about 80F). So, I plan to rig with a pump next season so that I can recirculate the wort until I reach the temp I want before diverting to the fermentor.

Click to expand...

It might be cheaper to build a small Immersion Chiller, hook it up with your garden hose in front of your CFC, and use it as a pre-chiller in a bucket of ice.

twanger1994 said:

I've used it with out a pump. But its easier with the pump. The wort can be moved with a siphon tho. Or check out chuggerpumps.com

Click to expand...

Wow. Thats expensive. Maybe I should have just gone with an IC. oh well. I will have a ball valve as I'm going to use it with a keggle that I'm building.
What challenges do you think I would face?

Thanks!!

i gravity feed my counter flow with no problems at all. I place my kettle on one shelf, the counter flow on the next, then the carboy on the floor. open the valve on my kettle and it flows through with no problems...

nvr2low said:

i gravity feed my counter flow with no problems at all. I place my kettle on one shelf, the counter flow on the next, then the carboy on the floor. open the valve on my kettle and it flows through with no problems...

Click to expand...

I'll try elevating my chiller a bit next time -- currently on the same level as the fermentor. That may make starting the siphon a bit smoother.

H-ost said:

It might be cheaper to build a small Immersion Chiller, hook it up with your garden hose in front of your CFC, and use it as a pre-chiller in a bucket of ice.

Click to expand...

Yes, I think I will try that out next season. Even dropping my cooling water temp a relatively small amount (like 10F) should help dramatically.

So many interesting brew projects for next season, but now it is time to transition from brewing to sailing...

Iqbal624 said:

Wow. Thats expensive. Maybe I should have just gone with an IC. oh well. I will have a ball valve as I'm going to use it with a keggle that I'm building.
What challenges do you think I would face?

Thanks!!

Click to expand...

Yes, food grade pumps are not cheap, but as you can see from the postings here you don't really need one for plate chiller.

Curtis2010 said:

I'll try elevating my chiller a bit next time -- currently on the same level as the fermentor. That may make starting the siphon a bit smoother.

Click to expand...

here is a crappy pic of how i run mine, only pic i have right now. the carboy is on the floor so there is a good drop between the kettle and the chiller, then another good drop to the carboy.

Curtis2010 said:

Yes, food grade pumps are not cheap, but as you can see from the postings here you don't really need one for plate chiller.

Click to expand...

Yea. Didn't realize that. However, I then thought they were required for a cfc. Good to know now that they work well without them. If I go to 10gal batches (not in the near future) then i may want to think about it.
Thanks guys

nvr2low said:

here is a crappy pic of how i run mine, only pic i have right now. the carboy is on the floor so there is a good drop between the kettle and the chiller, then another good drop to the carboy.

Click to expand...

Wow. That looks cool. However, I have to ask, how do you get a pot with 5.5+ gallons of Boiling wort up that high?

Iqbal624 said:

Wow. That looks cool. However, I have to ask, how do you get a pot with 5.5+ gallons of Boiling wort up that high?

Click to expand...

I just use gloves and lift it. the shelf is probably around the 5' mark.

nvr2low said:

here is a crappy pic of how i run mine, only pic i have right now. the carboy is on the floor so there is a good drop between the kettle and the chiller, then another good drop to the carboy.

Click to expand...

Wow, that's quite a drop! Do you just heave-ho the pot up there or do you have some kind of lifting mechanism?

Curtis2010 said:

Wow, that's quite a drop! Do you just heave-ho the pot up there or do you have some kind of lifting mechanism?

Click to expand...

i lift it, 5 gallons is not that heavy, its really the heat that is the issue. a good pair of gloves does it fine. My GF has brewed by her self and done it the same way. It will be nice to have it on a pump once we get our 10 gallon setup built but for now it works quite well.

Yes, 5 gallons is liftable, but bad news if you drop it or spill hot wort all over yourself.

(Reminds me a of 4 year old boy who fell into a large caldron of chicken soup here last year...the locals often cook on the ground over a wood fire. Really ugly -- we evac'ed him to good medical care in Guate City....a 5 hour very unpleasant journey for him followed by a full month of medical care (equally unpleasant). Good news is he fully recovered with minimal scaring and he now has a whole new level of respect for hot liquids!).

Curtis2010 said:

Yes, 5 gallons is liftable, but bad news if you drop it or spill hot wort all over yourself.

(Reminds me a of 4 year old boy who fell into a large caldron of chicken soup here last year...the locals often cook on the ground over a wood fire. Really ugly -- we evac'ed him to good medical care in Guate City....a 5 hour very unpleasant journey for him followed by a full month of medical care (equally unpleasant). Good news is he fully recovered with minimal scaring and he now has a whole new level of respect for hot liquids!).

Click to expand...

well, the photo is a bit misleading, its not quite as high as it looks, its a pretty easy lift....

i have had really bad second degree burns on my foot, almost 3rd degree from hot liquid. its not that bad, a little pain and some scar tissue, no big deal.... LOL!!!

TopherM said:

I wouldn't use plastic bags, as this is still going to be almost 200 F wort at the start, so the plastic bags aren't quite hearty enough and may melt.

Plenty of people on this board sanatize plastic bottles, fill them with boiled then frozen water, and submerge them. I'll tell you that it isn't going to speed up your cool down THAT much compared to an ice bath, and it can't be more sanitary than an ice bath, since you are actually putting plastic into your wort.

Click to expand...

I personally use a combination; I use a water bath until I'm below 150, replace the water with icewater and used 2 sanitized plastic ice bottles to stir the wort. I can get the wort down below 90 in about 20 minutes that way.

I myself prefer the old school method and just let it sit covered in the brew pot in my basement for 8 hours or so.

Yes I'm completely aware of what can happen by not cooling and starting fermentation ASAP, but that's part of the experiment for me.