F'd up with pool water

So to cool down the wort we submerge the boil keggle in the pool and put a copper wort chiller in the wort. It works really well. It goes from 200+ to 70 degrees Farenheit in about 45 minutes.

So after getting down to 70 degrees we tote it to a table and open the ball valve to let the liquid into the fermenting vessel. This time I saw a little clear water then the wort. So basically there was a little pool water in the opening of the ball valve. Well I didn't stop to correct this, I let it go. Now I'm worried about an infection.

It's an Imperial Stout and needs to ferment forever. 1 Month in the primary, another in the secondary then another 4-5 months in the keg to condition. I'm so afraid that this small amount of pool water is going to F it all up.

Please someone with experience help me out here. What can I do to mitigate and potential infection?

Assuming your pool water is properly chlorinated and not some stagnant swamp, I wouldn't worry much about infection.

Did you happen to have a pool party for a group of 8 year old kids right before this? If not, I agree with mtg4772 - no worries

AZ_IPA said:

Assuming your pool water is properly chlorinated and not some stagnant swamp, I wouldn't worry much about infection.

Click to expand...

It is maintained every friday by a guy that i pay $85 dollars/month. So yeah, it' spotless.

Best news I've heard in 100 years and I'm only 40 years old. Thanks!:rockin::fro:

If you have done this before I would expect the same thing happened and you didn't see it.

So if you did this before and had no problems I would expect none this time. As stated; if your pool is properly maintained I would guess any nasties would die before infecting your beer.

Pool noodle, duct tape, and you're in business. Mine used to float to the middle of the pool and I'd have to use the pool brush to reign it in until I git the IC in there, then I'd just tug on the hose.

Never had a problem with this.

I've seen a lot of sweet stuff on this site, but that picture may take the cake. Well done!

To the OP - more alarming to me is your 45 min cooling time...that seems really long, esp with submersion & immersion. What's your flow rate on your immersion chiller? Are you moving it around in the wort? A typical cooling time is 10-20 mins.

Yeah, very awesome pic? 10-20?! Now that's fast! Flow rate is pretty slow. Should I turn up the flow rate?

TyTanium said:

I've seen a lot of sweet stuff on this site, but that picture may take the cake. Well done!

To the OP - more alarming to me is your 45 min cooling time...that seems really long, esp with submersion & immersion. What's your flow rate on your immersion chiller? Are you moving it around in the wort? A typical cooling time is 10-20 mins.

Click to expand...

Here is the website and wort chilller description.

http://www.breworganic.com/basiccopperwortchiller.aspx

Like you said it is supposed to chill down to 70 degrees in about 20 minutes. I've never had that kind of timing. I stir the chiller every once in a while, but yeah that is a bit alarming especially when it's taking a lot longer than it should. What can I do to get the timing down to 20?

I thought a slower flow was better, but maybe I should increase the rate at which the water flows through the chiller?

Slow is more effiecient in water usage and temp drop/gallon water. Full tilt will cool the fastest, but you use a lot more water. I used to try to vary the flow depending on where my temp was to get a happy medium. The last two batches I just opened her up. I also would have thought submurging in a pool would have a more drastic effect then what you are saying. Then again if the pool water is 80 and the air temp is 80 then there is no difference but it looks cool.

Pool was 67 degrees. water from hose was about 70. Maybe I need to watch the clock closer next time. I'll time it with a watch next time. Maybe I'm off in describing the timing.

The flow of the immersion chiller is key to fast cooling. If the water exiting the output line is still sufficiently hot after a few minutes than the flow is not moving fast enough. If its too slow than the temperature of the kettle is equalizing the temperature of the cooling water before it exits the kettle, therefore not cooling the volume within the kettle efficiently. If the output water is coming out cool after a few minutes than you can be sure that cool temperature is being dispersed throughout the perimeter of the chiller.

Another trick is to stir the boil opposite the flow of the chiller. This exposes a larger volume I wort to cooler temperatures faster.

Happy brewing!

I just built a counter flow chiller last week and tried it out, it takes 212 degrees to 65 degrees in like 10 seconds! Cost me about $70 in materials but well worth it. The build instructions can be found on youtube - awesome!!

45 minutes is a long time, I was chilliing 5g in an ice bath in an hour! With my IC I get it done in 15minutes or so.

passedpawn said:

Pool noodle, duct tape, and you're in business. Mine used to float to the middle of the pool and I'd have to use the pool brush to reign it in until I git the IC in there, then I'd just tug on the hose.

Never had a problem with this.

Click to expand...

Always a pleasure

I would personally be moderately concerned about chlorine in my beer, but I've never been a pool chiller so I'm not speaking from experience. I did make my first AG bee from unfiltered chlorinated tap water though and that isn't an experience I am going to repeat.

bottlebomber said:

Always a pleasure

I would personally be moderately concerned about chlorine in my beer, but I've never been a pool chiller so I'm not speaking from experience. I did make my first AG bee from unfiltered chlorinated tap water though and that isn't an experience I am going to repeat.

Click to expand...

Hah, I had a feeling you'd see this.

BTW, I believe boiling will remove most (all?) chlorine and chloramines.

Boiling will get rid of chlorine, but not chloramine. Sodium metabisulphite (campden tabs) will help reduce the chloramine.

Theis said:

Boiling will get rid of chlorine, but not chloramine. Sodium metabisulphite (campden tabs) will help reduce the chloramine.

Click to expand...

Boiling will remove chloramines. The half life has been shown to be about 10 minutes or less (which means every 10 minutes the concentration is halved). I.e., after a 60 minute boil you will have reduced the chloramines to about 1% of what you started with.

I think the best solution, still, is adding a Campden tablet (potasium pyrosulfite) which reduces the chloramines to by-products that benefit yeast metabolism during fermentation.

Unlike chlorine, chloramines do not evaporate quickly at ambient temps (might take many days to reach half-life in a standing pot of water).

It was enough pool water to fit in the opening of the ball valve. A tablespoon at most. Is that enough to be concerned or take any kind of action ?

Why not pump pool water through your chiller? No waste of water and you can crank up the flow rate.

lschiavo said:

Why not pump pool water through your chiller? No waste of water and you can crank up the flow rate.

Click to expand...

That's what I do. I took this video last week. Submersible pool pump in the pool. Last part of the video shows the pump and the chiller

buy a Plate chiller from Keg Cowboy. Sell your immersion chiller in the classifieds on here. and direct your water from the plate chiller into the pool. thats what i did/do. problem solved

lschiavo said:

Why not pump pool water through your chiller? No waste of water and you can crank up the flow rate.

Click to expand...

Great friggin' idea! Gonna do that next time for sure!