Cooling the wort

I have a couple of specific questions regarding long wort cooling times. I'm trying as hard as I can to decrease the total time used in the process and I've really got it all down, except cooling the wort. It's the most frustrating part for me! Granted, it takes me about an hour to get it down to 70 degrees and that's not too bad, but I've heard of a couple of things that might help, just need opinions about it: One option is to Let it sit overnight with a lid on it and pitch in the morning. Another is to use less water in the boil, bring extra water to near-freezing point, and add that water to the wort after the boil. I've heard that can bring down temps 100 degrees in a half-hour. Opinioo/71uuau

I agree, chilling wort is the worst part for me too, at least it was. I invested in an immersion chiller and now wonder why I waited so long.

You can also do the things you mention. Letting it sit overnight is sometimes referred to as the no-chill approach. If you go that route you need to be aware that if you leave hops in the wort after flame out, it will continue to bitter the wort until the temp comes down. I've never done it myself, but a brewing buddy did and his experience was basically over-hopped beer. You can get around this by using a hop hag during the boil and pulling it all out at flame out.

Adding ice water to the boiled wort to bring the total volume up to target is a very effective tactic used by extract brewers, but it only works as long as you can add water after the boil- not always an option if you get into more complex brewing like all-grain or brew-in-a-bag.

My suggestion would be to get yourself an immersion chiller and thank yourself for the rest of your brewing life (or until you get another chiller that is superior).

A chiller is the easiest and quickest way to get it done.

With my homemade copper tubing immersion cooler, I'm down to 80F in 20 to 30 minutes. The trick is to keep moving the coil. I just grab the inlet and bounce the coil like it's a spring. Without doing that, it would take more like an hour.

Last night, with my tap water at 82 and 4 bags of ice and a pre-chiller, I was able to get my wort down to 68 in just about 30 minutes. It was no stop stirring and $8 of ice plus 2 days of ice saved from my fridge but fall and cooler water temps can't come soon enough.
This was 5.5 gallons of wort. In January, with just an ice bath and wort chiller I can cool to 70 in 12 minutes.

I brewed five gallons yesterday and I was able to get it down from boiling to 60 degrees in about 15 minutes:

- 10 minutes with my 50' 3/8" IC with a pre-chiller in a five gallon bucket of ice and water
- 5 minutes with a submersible pump recirculating through the five gallon ice water bucket

First time I used the SP, I was very happy with it's performance!

I am not sure why it takes so long for others to cool the wort. I do 5-6 gallon batches usually. I boil in a cut down keg which has handles on top. I have a large round plastic tub with rope handles that I bought at Tractor Supply for $15 bucks. I fill it with water, sit the boil pot in the water and put as much ice as I can get in it while I let the water run slowly in the plastic tub. The boil kettle wants to float but I run a rod through the rope handles above the boil kettle to hold it in the tub. Granted, I waste a lot of water but in 20 minutes I am at 70F and it has been unbearably hot here. Of course this may not work for a 10 or 15 gallon batch as it weighs too much to be picking up.
A stainless keg is not the most conductive pot there is, so it is hard for me to understand why those with thinner stainless or aluminum pots have a longer cooldown period. I have used a copper wort chiller and see no appreciative difference with the way I am doing it. You just gotta get aggressive and find a quicker solution.

ron said:

I am not sure why it takes so long for others to cool the wort. I do 5-6 gallon batches usually. I boil in a cut down keg which has handles on top. I have a large round plastic tub with rope handles that I bought at Tractor Supply for $15 bucks. I fill it with water, sit the boil pot in the water and put as much ice as I can get in it while I let the water run slowly in the plastic tub. The boil kettle wants to float but I run a rod through the rope handles above the boil kettle to hold it in the tub. Granted, I waste a lot of water but in 20 minutes I am at 70F and it has been unbearably hot here. Of course this may not work for a 10 or 15 gallon batch as it weighs too much to be picking up.
A stainless keg is not the most conductive pot there is, so it is hard for me to understand why those with thinner stainless or aluminum pots have a longer cooldown period. I have used a copper wort chiller and see no appreciative difference with the way I am doing it. You just gotta get aggressive and find a quicker solution.

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My back hurts just from reading this. I lifted my 170* HLT keggle with 10 gallons in it once before I built a structure so I didn't have to do it again. Those kettles are so damn heavy and awkward to lift.

Beer-lord said:

Last night, with my tap water at 82 and 4 bags of ice and a pre-chiller, I was able to get my wort down to 68 in just about 30 minutes. It was no stop stirring and $8 of ice plus 2 days of ice saved from my fridge but fall and cooler water temps can't come soon enough.
This was 5.5 gallons of wort. In January, with just an ice bath and wort chiller I can cool to 70 in 12 minutes.

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Beer Lord - is there a risk adding water post boil outside 64-72 d. F range? I like the idea of pre-chilling water then adding.

I didn't add any water post boil, the ice was for the sink but yes, there is a chance the water, if not boiled then chilled, could add an infection. It's slim but it's possible.

Yesterday, I cooled 3 gallons from boiling to 74 degrees in my kitchen sink in 20 minutes. I dumped a 20lb bag of ice into the sink, added tap water to about halfway full, put the kettle in, then continued filling the sink until the water level was above the level of the wort in the kettle. This is key since you want to maximize the surface area that the cooling liquid is giving the kettle. Also, stirring the wort while cooling it makes a huge difference since you're increasing the amount of wort that can transfer heat to the water. I've got a deep sink, so that helps. When brewing at my friend's house, cooling takes about 15 minutes longer since he has a shallow sink.

I fill my sink with cool water then add 3 bags of ice. Then I add salt to the ice bath. I am able to cool my wort down in 10 mins with this method.

Immersion chiller, cheap and easy to make. less risk of nasties. and if your going to add water after the boil, stick with bottled water.

Oh, and I get from boiling to 65f in about 15mn flat but I live in AK where the water is darn cold from the tap.