I live in Orlando and was wondering how to get my wort chilled to 70 degrees without contamination. I have an immersion chiller but the water that comes from my garden house is around 80 degrees. Any advise on how to decrease the temp.?
Yeast pitching temp.
- Thread starter tvanek29
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greatschmaltez
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I used to live in Houston, same problem. I recommend getting a good fountain pump from homedepot and a large cooler. Put ice and a little water in the cooler (on top of the fountain pump). And create a recirculation loop with a garden hose on your chiller outlet. It takes about 40 lbs of ice to chill down 6 gallons of wort. Make sure you get a pump that can put up some good head, especially if you have a 50ft chiller.
jakenbacon
Well-Known Member
I got a pump for 20 bucks at harbor freight and I am quite pleased with the results....
stpug
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Maybe an ice bath to get to "reasonable" pitching temps and then straight into a fermentation chamber/fridge. Something like this: Cool to the coldest you can get with immersion chiller with garden hose, then use either an ice bath or ice water pump system to get to 75F or below, pitch yeast, put directly into fermentation chamber which will slowly bring the temps down even further. I would suspect that by the time the yeast really starts to generate it's own heat that you'll be in the right temp range. I think you can pitch slightly warm if you go directly into fermentation chamber since you should have several hours of lag time to allow the beer to cool even further; just be sure to have a blowoff-tube system ready in case it's needed. An exception to this would be when you overpitch - in those cases you will want to cool to 65F or less.
Or brew saisons with high temp yeasts
. I've currently got a saison brewing using farmhouse ale 3726 that was pitched at 75F and wrapped in an unplugged electric blanket so it it could freerise to 85F (90F would be fine also), and then I can supplement heat when fermentation slows to keep it up at 85+F. I've found fermentations to take only a few days with this method, yeast, and style of beer. Become one with the seasons
Or brew saisons with high temp yeasts
. I've currently got a saison brewing using farmhouse ale 3726 that was pitched at 75F and wrapped in an unplugged electric blanket so it it could freerise to 85F (90F would be fine also), and then I can supplement heat when fermentation slows to keep it up at 85+F. I've found fermentations to take only a few days with this method, yeast, and style of beer. Become one with the seasons 
Do you have a way to control your fermentation temperature? If so, pitch at 80 or less and get the wort down to pitching temp within a few hours, you'll have no issues. During the yeast's lag phase, they reproduce but won't produce "off" flavors, that happens during active fermentation. You do need to get the temp to the desired range for the active.
You can make a homemade 2nd immersion chiller, inline with your chiller for the wort, and place it in a bucket of salted icewater (salt slightly lowers the temp of the ice water). It will bring down the water / chiller temp by a few degrees. Or, as mentioned, invest in a recirculation system, the ice gets pricier for that.
You can make a homemade 2nd immersion chiller, inline with your chiller for the wort, and place it in a bucket of salted icewater (salt slightly lowers the temp of the ice water). It will bring down the water / chiller temp by a few degrees. Or, as mentioned, invest in a recirculation system, the ice gets pricier for that.
That's where we differ in opinion. In my experience, yeast DO indeed reproduce well at warmer temperatures, but do create off flavors like esters and phenols and even fusels, before anaerobic fermentation even begins.
Pre chiller in ice / water bath and stir wort with a sanitized spoon.
I guess this is where differing processes and differing experiences with past brews come into play. I have pitched slightly warm (75ish), when the garden hose / immersion chiller didn't quite cool my wort down below 70, and have had some clean low-ester beers result, two of those lagers. The book Yeast says (p.67) that yeast produce minimal ethanol during the (4+ hr) lag phase, which means flavor compounds and esters are minimally produced, as esters are created when an appreciable amount of alcohol is made. Optimal Oxygen levels during the lag phase reduce ester percusors, instead comsuming them and utilizing them as sterols to grow cell wall thickness- this could also be a variable. Chris does go on to say later that optimally, yeast should be pitched at a proper rate, at slightly below fermentation temperature, as this will "often" provide a cleaner overall flavor from healthier yeast. So, even "the source" for yeast information seems to state at one point the lag phase won't produce esters, then later says that cleaner beer comes from pitching at lower temp.
This post made me pull out and re-read about 15 pages of the wonderful book, Yeast and after all, we're all here to learn to be better brewers as well as to help others in that quest.
I guess the learning is that optimal process is to pitch when the beer is below fermentation temperature. As the stock brokers say, your experience may differ.
This is where I fall in my pitch temp theory and practice. I at least want to get the wort to the starting ferment temp, preferably a few degrees below. I normally get it down most of the way with hose water and then switch to pumping ice water through the plate chiller. If I were to run out of ice, I'd rather cover and chill for a while to avoid pitching warm.
5 gallons of wort pitched at 10*F above the target ferment temp is going to take a little while to fully cool that much.
Use the pre chiller and circulate water from an ice bath thru a CFC. When i use my tap water in the mid 50's, it takes 200 degree wort to the low 60's in no time. u may end up even having to turn the pump off because it will cool it to below where u'd like it.
JuanMoore
Getting the banned back together
There are some good suggestions here, but I'll offer an alternative. My "cold" tap water in the summer is often in the mid 90's, and I used to make or buy large quantities of ice and use various recirculation methods to get to pitching temp. With my 10-12 gal batch sizes that took a lot of ice, and a lot of time. Now, I just chill as much as I can in a reasonable time without any ice, throw the beer in my ferm chamber, and set it to a couple degrees below my desired ferm temp. The next day the beer is at the perfect pitching temp, so I oxygenate, pitch, and bump the temp to my desired ferm temp.
IL1kebeer
Well-Known Member
+1 to the post above
I do the same thing; however, I monitor the temps and pitch as soon as the temp gets to the desired range instead of waiting until the next day.
I do the same thing; however, I monitor the temps and pitch as soon as the temp gets to the desired range instead of waiting until the next day.
I guess this is where differing processes and differing experiences with past brews come into play. I have pitched slightly warm (75ish), when the garden hose / immersion chiller didn't quite cool my wort down below 70, and have had some clean low-ester beers result, two of those lagers. The book Yeast says (p.67) that yeast produce minimal ethanol during the (4+ hr) lag phase, which means flavor compounds and esters are minimally produced, as esters are created when an appreciable amount of alcohol is made. Optimal Oxygen levels during the lag phase reduce ester percusors, instead comsuming them and utilizing them as sterols to grow cell wall thickness- this could also be a variable. Chris does go on to say later that optimally, yeast should be pitched at a proper rate, at slightly below fermentation temperature, as this will "often" provide a cleaner overall flavor from healthier yeast. So, even "the source" for yeast information seems to state at one point the lag phase won't produce esters, then later says that cleaner beer comes from pitching at lower temp.
This post made me pull out and re-read about 15 pages of the wonderful book, Yeast and after all, we're all here to learn to be better brewers as well as to help others in that quest.
I guess the learning is that optimal process is to pitch when the beer is below fermentation temperature. As the stock brokers say, your experience may differ.
I am going to go
but I think this might address a closely related issue. Was reading my birthday gift last night New Brewing Lager Beer (great book for lager lovers) and found a section relevant to ester production. Wort oxygenation, or rather lack thereof, can cause esters and fusel alcohols. acetyl Co A when it has enough oxygen makes sterols, which strengthen yeast and allow them to reproduce. Without oxygen, acetyl Co A turns alcohols into fusel alcohols, which it can further dehydrate into ethyl acetate, which causes fruity / solventy aromatics. So, proper pitching temp is important in clean beer, but oxygenation is additionally important.
Fortunately, I just got a fermentation chamber, so no more warm pitching for me!:rockin:
