need colder water.

so texas water isn't an ideal temperature for cooling wort. i measured my tap water at 85*. i have an immersion chiller but don't have the $ for a pre-chiller. i have been using my ic to get the temp down to 115 and then using an ice bath too. any ideas on how to get colder water in the ic w/o buying a $45 pre chiller?

add salt to the ice, will bring down the freezing temperature of the water.

Drain icewater from your bottling bucket through the chiller. You'd just have to get the bucket up nice and high to have a good gravity drain. Use this method after the wort hits 120F or less.

I use a 60' copper coil in salted ice that goes in to a second 60' copper coil that is in the wort. Why? cause south Tx. tap water is bathing temp.

Bobby_M said:

Drain icewater from your bottling bucket through the chiller. You'd just have to get the bucket up nice and high to have a good gravity drain. Use this method after the wort hits 120F or less.

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I do this but with my mash tun. Works very well. Also, take your spoon and get a fast whirlpool going, don't let it stop and this will speed it up some too.

Beerrific said:

I do this but with my mash tun. Works very well. Also, take your spoon and get a fast whirlpool going, don't let it stop and this will speed it up some too.

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And the increase in surface area helps with the O2.

Since you don't have the money for a pre-chiller.........

Use extra hose: coil 25-50' of the hose in a large bucket or container of ice water.

Viola, El Cheapo pre-chiller.

Oh and when you do decide to upgrade, look into buy a submersible pond-style pump to recirculate the ice water instead of a pre-chiller...one less layer of copper to restrict the heat flux. This will probably run you less than a pre-chiller too.

Right on beerrific.. I've said it a hundred times here but copper is way more expensive than a cheap pump. Not only that, but prechilling is another barrier to thermal transfer. Putting icewater directly into the IC is the best way since it's already 32F or colder if you add rock salt.

Sea, coiling hose in an icewater bath as a prechiller sounds good in theory but it doesn't work in practice. It might bring 80F tap down to 79F if you run the water slow.

Another vote for a submersible pump. I bought one for about 20 bucks, I'll hook up the wort chiller to the hose faucet until it gets to about 100 degrees, then I put the pump in ice water and hook it up to the chiller until it gets to under 80 degrees. It's been real hot here, but I've been able to cool a full boil in a bit over 30 minutes.

You must be in north Texas. I shower with "cold" water every morning and it feels warm. (I'm in southeast Louisiana).

Learn from this: skip the prechiller (and save money not buying another IC for your prechiller). Get a fountain pump. I did this and get my wort from 105 F to below 55 F in 10 minutes.

Get a strong one that will push 330+ gph. I love this way of cooling wort. This is one of the most signifigant improvements to my brewing.

Listen to me now and believe me later. This is THE kick ass way to cool down wort.

Granted prechillers do work to a point. This is not a slam on people who went that route. It's just not the best way or the best bang for the buck these days with copper prices. There's that tendency to defend a method you're comfortable with especially if you've spent some money.

Bobby_M said:

Granted prechillers do work to a point. This is not a slam on people who went that route. It's just not the best way or the best bang for the buck these days with copper prices. There's that tendency to defend a method you're comfortable with especially if you've spent some money.

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People are down here stealing copper. You're right, it is an investment. a 330+ gph pond/fountain pump is under $ 50.00 with tax. It really works well. I've been brewing 5+ years and this method is really nice. The prechiller can be considered the "middle man". Get rid of him and you improve your efficiency.

so you guys all have me sold on the aquarium pump idea. is there anything specific that i should look for? will i need to buy a hose adapter and tubing to hook it up to the ic?

This is what I got: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=45014


Bought a 1 inch hose and fittings at Lowes. Fill bucket with ice water and hook this bad boy up after the temp drops below 100* and it will chill down the wort in no time.

jdoiv said:

This is what I got: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=45014


Bought a 1 inch hose and fittings at Lowes. Fill bucket with ice water and hook this bad boy up after the temp drops below 100* and it will chill down the wort in no time.

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This is the next item on my brewery equipment wish list. For now, I'm using an IC followed by an ice bath.

try peeing in it.

Hmmm....am I getting this right? Put pump in ice bath, hook up hose, hose to fitting that connects to ic inlet, second hose to ic outlet back into ice water bucket?

Could you also use this pump as an aeration system for your wort? Then you get 2 fer 1......(sans O2, of course)

Kayos said:

Hmmm....am I getting this right? Put pump in ice bath, hook up hose, hose to fitting that connects to ic inlet, second hose to ic outlet back into ice water bucket?

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Yup. The idea is to pump ice water through the IC rather than warm tap water. The ice will melt because you are recirculating warm water through it, so wait until the wort is under 100* or so, so you don't have to use a ton of ice.

Kayos said:

Could you also use this pump as an aeration system for your wort? Then you get 2 fer 1......(sans O2, of course)

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Don't know, but I doubt it. Seems like they are made to pump water, not air. Also, the air pumps I've seen for aeration usually have a HEPA filter to keep germs from getting into the wort. You wouldn't have that on a pond pump.

Kayos said:

Could you also use this pump as an aeration system for your wort? Then you get 2 fer 1......(sans O2, of course)

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Most of those pumps will probably burn out more quickly if you run them without water. I've had various aquariums and terrariums through the years and submersible pumps always start making a nasty sound if the water level gets too low.

My old IC started leaking around where the hose connected to it so I replaced it and started using the old one as a pre-chiller. I put it in a 5 gallon pot and fill the pot with ice once the wort temp gets down to 100. The ice is salted and stirred constantly once it starts melting, and the wort is stirred as well. With this method I've been able to get wort down to around 65 degrees with 80 degree tap water by the time all the ice in the pot melts.