Cool wort in hot a hot climate

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bulbous_blues

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Until recently I just did very small batches and used the ice bath method to cool my wort. I now plan on doing 5 gallon batches so figured it was time to invest in a better method to cool my wort.

One of my problems is I live in Texas and during the summer the ground water stays pretty warm.

I know variations of this question has been asked, but I wondered if someone has direct experience of both situations

I could buy a immersion chiller and hope that this is enough with the ground water as it is, any experience of this in hot weather? (this would be the cheapest) Also does the size of the chiller help at all?

I could use the immersion chiller with a pump and recycle the water and ice.
But i figure by the time I've bought a pump and more hose I've spent as much as a plate chiller (plus it just looks a pain in the ass)

If I got a plate chiller and dumped it in a cooler with some iced water would this seem the best way to keep things easy, relatively inexpensive and use the least amount of water.

Opinions and experiences welcomed
 
I do the second method often and yes it definitely will cost more with the pump. However, consider the additional advantage that you can quickly get down to lager pitching temps. I don't own a plate chiller, but I would think dunking it in an ice bath would not add that much more advantage since the majority of the heat exchange surface is buried inside the chiller.
 
I started with a 2-stage IC. A 25' section that sat in a cooler full of ice water, connected to another 25' section that went into the wort.

Now that I have a plate chiller and a pump, the 2-stage IC is basically my "pre-chiller" for the plate chiller. I put both sections in the cooler with ice water, then the output of that becomes the input into the plate chiller. I can chill my wort down into the mid 40's, regardless of the outdoor or faucet temperature.
 
Florida has warm temps. I make ales and lagers, no problem. No ice.

Get a small cheap chest freezer. Cool the wort with water from your hose (or pool, that's what I do). In the summer I can only get it down to 85-90. Then I put the carboys into my chest freezer. It only takes a few hours to get it the rest of the way to ale temps, and a few more hours to lager temps. Then I pitch yeast.
 
Hello, I live in Arizona, my tap water is 90 deg right now, I use a 3/8" 50 ft wort chiller to get my 10 gal batches down to 95 deg then into the fermenters it go's, then I put the fermenters into 2 rope handle tubs ($6 ea at walmart) with ice and water, in about an hr Im pitching yeast,
Im thinking about making another wort chiller of 3/8" 25 ft to use as a pre chiller, with a cheap water pump from harbor freight to recirculate the water with ice from one of the rope handle tubs.

The 50 ft chiller works great btw, but Im doing 10 gal batches too.

Cheers :mug:
 
Florida has warm temps. I make ales and lagers, no problem. No ice.

Get a small cheap chest freezer. Cool the wort with water from your hose (or pool, that's what I do). In the summer I can only get it down to 85-90. Then I put the carboys into my chest freezer. It only takes a few hours to get it the rest of the way to ale temps, and a few more hours to lager temps. Then I pitch yeast.

+1 to this. in texas like the op, and this is easiest
 
One more Texas brewer here. I run hose water through the chiller until I hit about 85*F. I then switch my water-in line to a Northern Tool submersible pump sitting inside a 5-gallon Igloo cooler about 1/3 full of water and set up the water-out line (which had been dumping onto the lawn) to recirculate back into the Igloo.

This time of year, by adding ice to the water in the Igloo, I can get down to 62*F with a 10lb bag and down close to about 50*F with a 20lb bag. I did this with my copper IC and still use the same technique with the 30-plate chiller on my E-BIAB rig (while recirculating the wort back into the kettle and monitoring the temp via the PID controller).
 
wow A lot of useful replies, going from everyone has said. I will start off with an IC and experiment with that as best as I can. When I have some more cash consider the pump and/or pre-chiller. I'm glad you guys mentioned the mini chest freezer, I was expecting that that would be an essential eventually, at least in hot climates.

Is there an advantage of a chest freezer over a minifridge?

Also do you think taking an hour to get the wort from say 90 to pitching temp has any detrimental effects? I think I read that as long as you manage to get the temp down to 80 asap then after that is not so bad.
 
I do use an IC to get the wort down to about 120, pour it into the bucket, put in the fridge then add the O2 and yeast the next day. Makes my brew day go faster too. :)
 
There's more than 1 way to skin a cat. :)

It doesn't really matter what method you use, the end result will be that your wort will never get below the water temperature (simple physics). That said, the SPEED at which it happens can vary dramatically based on the efficiency of the tools used.

I use a plate chiller and I use well water that comes in at about 66-68F, and the wort comes out around 72-74F in the middle of the summer. I pitch the yeast at this temperature (for ales, not so for lagers) and then I put the fermenters in the fermentation fridge. So far that's worked well for me.

To get below 72F, I'd probably need to use a secondary reverse-immersion chiller (the beer is inside the copper) with an ice bath. I'm a bit concerned that this might get too cold because of the travel time of the wort inside the copper.

MC
 
wow A lot of useful replies, going from everyone has said. I will start off with an IC and experiment with that as best as I can. When I have some more cash consider the pump and/or pre-chiller. I'm glad you guys mentioned the mini chest freezer, I was expecting that that would be an essential eventually, at least in hot climates.

Is there an advantage of a chest freezer over a minifridge?

Also do you think taking an hour to get the wort from say 90 to pitching temp has any detrimental effects? I think I read that as long as you manage to get the temp down to 80 asap then after that is not so bad.

Chest freezers can be a little cheaper but you'll need to get a temp controller too.

Considering that there are many no chill brewers experiencing good results (no infection or significant DMS) your situation poses minimal chance of detrimental effect.
 
I don't own a plate chiller, but I would think dunking it in an ice bath would not add that much more advantage since the majority of the heat exchange surface is buried inside the chiller.
i suspect that dunking the whole plate chiller in ice would be quite effective. during the cooling process the entire PC becomes really hot, in fact it's too hot to touch. that means the cooling water has to cool both the wort and the PC itself.
 
Only on the HOT WORT IN/HOT WATER OUT end. The other end is cool to the touch.
when my buddy uses the PC (i don't have one), the thing is hot from end to end... but it's just occurred to me that he pumps though it and recirculates both the wort and his water, whereas most people do a single pass. that might explain why it gets so hot.
 
passedpawn said:
Florida has warm temps. I make ales and lagers, no problem. No ice.

Get a small cheap chest freezer. Cool the wort with water from your hose (or pool, that's what I do). In the summer I can only get it down to 85-90. Then I put the carboys into my chest freezer. It only takes a few hours to get it the rest of the way to ale temps, and a few more hours to lager temps. Then I pitch yeast.

How long can you keep just wort in before it spoils? I live in south Mississippi and thought about this method I've just worried it might take too long.
 
seatbelt123 said:
I do use an IC to get the wort down to about 120, pour it into the bucket, put in the fridge then add the O2 and yeast the next day. Makes my brew day go faster too. :)

This.

I live in Hawaii, where ground water is warm year round. I can get it down to about 90 with a plate chiller. I put it in the mini fridge already set to ferm temp and pour a little in to a flask and get the yeast started on a stir plate. Next day, add O2 and pitch yeast starter.
 
I use an immersion chiller hooked to a pump sitting in a cooler filled with ice. It works ok, but my immersion chiller is too small so I'm thinking of converting the cooler to something similar to a jockey box. Fill it with ice, open the valve on the bottom of the kettle and let gravity move it through the jockey box and into the fermenter.
 
How long can you keep just wort in before it spoils? I live in south Mississippi and thought about this method I've just worried it might take too long.

Not very long. It's sugar rich and will eventually be a home for bacteria. But I can tell you from my experience that if you continue to cool it down and get your yeast in there by the next day, you'll be OK.

Just try to hit the beer with ample amounts of yeast and they will get busy and dominate any nefarious critters that would like to spoil your day.
 
I use a cfc and a post chiller. My cfc get the wort down to 85 and then it runs through a SS coil in an ice bath that gets it down to 65 before going into the fermenter.
 
Peter_h said:
This.

I live in Hawaii, where ground water is warm year round. I can get it down to about 90 with a plate chiller. I put it in the mini fridge already set to ferm temp and pour a little in to a flask and get the yeast started on a stir plate. Next day, add O2 and pitch yeast starter.

Peter, that's a really good idea. Use he wort for a built in starter. I like it. :)
 
I use a counter flow wort chiller and use an immersible pump set inside a 5 gallon cooler filled with ice water and just recirculate the water. 2 bags of ice will take 5 gallons down to under 70 degrees. I did a sample batch of 2.5 gallons of stout this weekend and the wort went from 200 to 52 in less than 10 mins and it was 106 outside (I was brewing in the garage)

We have been in a drought state for the last 10 years so I don't think letting the water drain right from the chiller is an Eco-friendly option either. This way I can use the water in the cooler to clean everything once I'm done

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