I hope to plan next week, but highs will be below freezing. I don't want to bring by 5 gallons of boiling wort inside my house and down stairs to hook up the wort chiller to the laundry room sink. I have done it before and found it to be a PITA. So, I still want to chill my wort outside. Will the wort chiller work and water not freeze in the garden hose if the air temp is about 20 degrees?
Will wort chiller work below freezing?
- Thread starter eadavis80
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
Auger
Well-Known Member
As you don't leave the hose sitting around full of water with no flow, it should be fine. I would keep the hose inside, and when you are ready to chill, hook it up and turn it on and do your thing. When done, unhook it and drain it quickly so it doesn't freeze up. If there is water moving through it, it won't freeze while outside.
If you're moving water through the hose and chiller, it's not going to freeze, especially since you're going to be heating that water in the wort. Immersion chillers will work just fine in temperatures well below 20F.
I have to think freezing temps are an ideal problem to have as far as chilling wort is concerned! If you have a frost free hose bib, you should be good. I hope you are mashing and boiling inside, though!
TeamAshBrewing
Well-Known Member
I brew in the garage all year long and here is a few things I do. Bring both hoses inside the night before brew day. They will soften up so you can uncoil them. When chilling, don't put your output drain hose on the driveway (unless you want to play hockey). When done brewing, blow out both hoses and your IC with compressed air. I have a fitting that converts the air compressor quick connect to a hose fitting.
Nope - all brewing is done outside. SWMBO swore off any indoor brewing a few batches in - she can't stand the smell. I honestly don't mind being outside in the garage and it's not like I'm out there the whole time- just for certain times (hop additions, adding extract, etc.). My big concern was just hoping the water would flow fine through the IM in the colder temps, but it sounds like it's all good. Yeah, I could do a partial boil and lug a smaller volume of wort into the house and cool the wort in the laundry room, but I prefer full volume boils. Just lugging that full boiling kettle downstairs is something I don't want to do.
brewprint
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 7, 2014
- Messages
- 1,616
- Reaction score
- 169
This is the same thing that happened to me. She hates the smell.
I have no issues with leaving my faucet in the house turned off and keeping the hose inside until I brew. I fill my kettle outside and let the hose sit until I use the immersion chiller.
Mine always complains, too. Weird, as I love the small of a mash. Good stuff. Plus, she's always complaining about dry air in the winter. What's better to fix that than a nice kettle of wort boiling on the stove?
Women.
Snicklefritz
Well-Known Member
Alright - that's what I thought. I'll just have to remember to put the harden hose inside my house the night before - thanks guys
Yeah definitely remember to do that. Its not fun thawing your hose out in 5 gallon buckets of water to get the ice out of it. Don't ask how I know
If I brew in the garage when it's below freezing, I connect the hose to the hose bib but don't turn on the water until I am ready to start chilling. I run the output water into alternating buckets and pour it off the side of the garage. I don't want to turn my driveway into a skating rink.
brewprint
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 7, 2014
- Messages
- 1,616
- Reaction score
- 169
Mine always complains, too. Weird, as I love the small of a mash. Good stuff. Plus, she's always complaining about dry air in the winter. What's better to fix that than a nice kettle of wort boiling on the stove?
Women.
Hahaha that's the truth.
I truly like the smell but I think mine referred to it as a wet sock/feet smell.
It must be a woman thing because all my buddies seem to like it.
Mine always complains, too. Weird, as I love the small of a mash. Good stuff. Plus, she's always complaining about dry air in the winter. What's better to fix that than a nice kettle of wort boiling on the stove?
Women.
I have the same issue.
However much I love the smell of mash, and I do, what comes off the boil especially early on is no bargain, IMO.
Seems to me the reason for the boil is to boil off compounds like sulfur that would cause off tastes. I suspect that's what's in the aroma coming off the boil kettle.
I boil in the garage as well, but afterwards there's lingering odor for a few days--and SWMBO does not like that smell in her vehicle. Out on the driveway it goes.
Small price to pay for her tolerance of the rest of this.
cshamilton
Well-Known Member
I've done it fine in the winter... Except one time when I was doing a hopstand. I got the temp down to about 180 and let it sit for 20 min. I was worried and even left it at the lightest trickle I could get. But the temps were cold enough to freeze in the hose. So into a snowbank my brew kettle went - took a good 30 minutes to chill even with stirring.
Well, I guess what matters is the faucet has to emit water. It did not do that and so as a result, I'm stuck with the 'poor man's wort chiller' for the day. I haven't had to do this in ages. But, it's not all bad - sipping a few homebrews and listening to the Red Wings as I move and reshovel a new snow pile every 10 minutes in an attempt to cool it. It's the last 20 degrees that take FOREVER!
If you're using an outside hose bibb, you MUST have a freezeproof sillcock in order to use it below freezing, otherwise, water will freeze inside it when you shut it off, and you will have a potentially messy and expensive mess to fix if it freezes and breaks the pipe.
I fear that you do not have a freezeproof sillcock and that water has frozen inside it, and that's why it is not emitting water. My advice to you would be to turn off the inside valve to your hose bibb. Once it warms up, turn it on again and watch for leaking. A leak that drips into your house can cause a lot of damage.
In the future, install a freezeproof sillcock, or put a sink to hose adapter on an inside sink and run the hose from there.
Last edited by a moderator:
If I were brewing outside and the temps were below freezing, I wouldn't bother with the hoses and a chiller, I would just leave the kettle outside for a few hours and let it chill on its own.
Move a flame out or late hop addition to 170 degrees, or about 20-30 minutes after flame out.
Move a flame out or late hop addition to 170 degrees, or about 20-30 minutes after flame out.
I kept my kettle covered for fear of bacteria (a bird flying by and leaving a 'present' in the kettle, etc.). The first 100 degree drop was real quick, but that spot between 120-70 took another 2 hours. I kept moving the kettle and having reshovel new snowbanks 'cause they would melt pretty quickly. I actually didn't mind it until it was towards the end of the 2nd batch, then I just got tired of doing it. Work up this morning with a pretty sore back. Probably lifted those 5 gallons of wort like 100 times between the two batches. I think last winter I did have a wort chiller inside hooked up to the sink with a faucet fixture. But, since then I've added a hose to my faucet fixture and that thing is like chemically bonded onto the faucet. Now, I'll just have to get like a $3 part as the hose attached to the faucet is the same size as the hose from the wort chiller. So, I'll just have to get a little fitting so I can attach both together. The only part of using the wort chiller inside I don't like is lugging 5 gallons of boiling wort inside my house and then down some stairs. One bad move = divorce. Oh well - got through yesterday and the next time I brew I should be able to use the wort chiller outside, assuming my pipes aren't all messed up...
