wort chill time, help!!

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Should be OK, what are you using? That's the time it takes me, the water in AZ is warm so that slows chilling time down. You could also try stirring the wort, with a sanitized spoon, while it's chilling, that should shave some time.
 
its an extract kit for a raspberry wheat from AHS, just using ice water in a tub to cool it, went ahead and pitched the yeast, even though it was a tad on the hot side...worried about contamination
 
it was about 100, poured into 80/90 degree water and nottingham dry, rehydrated for 15 min at about 90
 
That's a little warmer than optimum temp, there might be some ester production but the beer will be fine. Mabey you can age it a little longer to compensate.
 
a bit high on the temp but it should be fine.

I use ice baths to chill my wort and it usually takes at least 30 min. You want to chill the wort as quickly as you can but if it takes longer than 20 minutes it's no big deal, just keep the lid on the pot as much as possible while cooling and you'll be fine.
 
It often takes me longer than 20 minutes to cool my wort (more like 30-40) in an ice bath. That amount of time is not likely to result in contamination as long as you are careful about sanitation.
 
An ester is an aromatic compound formed by yeast byproducts and alcohol, they usually smell fruity. When brewers talk about banana, gum, apple, fruit smells, those are esters. Ester production is complex but usually arises when yeast is underpiched, pitched too warm or fermented too warm. Basically any activity that requires the yeast to work harder than they should can result in these aromas. In German wheat and Belgian ale yeasts ester production is normal and desired, but in lagers it is usually considered a flaw. The best way to familiarize yourself is to brew a German hefeweizen or Belgian saison/ale.
 
I find that if I "swirl" my immersion chiller (hold it by the inlet/outlet tubes and move it in a circular motion around the brewpot a couple times) that it sucks out a LOT more heat! For example, if I just run the water for a while until the outlet hose is almost as cool as the inlet hose, and then gently swirl the IC, the outlet hose instantly gets hot again and stays that way for another minute or two. Doing this 4-5 times over about 10-15 minutes speeds up the chilling process a lot. You don't need to be forceful--you can get good results without disturbing the surface and/or aerating the water at all. You just need to gently displace that "blanket" of cooler water that would otherwise sit stagnant around the coils of the chiller.

Lately I've been running the tap water through an IC in an ice bath as a pre-chiller since the "cold" tap water around here isn't really cold in the summer. This helps a lot too, but not nearly as much as just moving the chiller around in the brewpot periodically.
 
I have been using ice in my wort to cool it along with an ice bath with great results. I had my last batch at around 70 and in the primary in about 8 mins after flameout. I have been using these. I just clean/sanatize them the night before, fill em up and put them in the freezer the night before brew day and they are ready to go. The ice comes out nice and easy, and does a great job.

I got the idea from this thread.
 
I know everybody thinks that I am a fool for doing it, but my solution to warm AZ tap water is to cool the wort pot in ice water until it hits about 140 F, then pitch into a primary bucket containing a bag worth of crystal ice. The ice is R/O water, so it drops me down to 80 or below right away.

With smaller extract boils I have hit as low as 50 F this way.... was not used to having to warm it up to pitch :)
 
Adding ice to your partial boil extract brew is a worthy method but if you're thinking about going all grain anytime soon, it's a good time to start thinking about "non infusion" cooling methods ;-)
 
SixFoFalcon said:
I find that if I "swirl" my immersion chiller (hold it by the inlet/outlet tubes and move it in a circular motion around the brewpot a couple times) that it sucks out a LOT more heat! ... You just need to gently displace that "blanket" of cooler water that would otherwise sit stagnant around the coils of the chiller.

Yep, this should be in the FAQ/wiki.


SixFoFalcon said:
Doing this 4-5 times over about 10-15 minutes speeds up the chilling process a lot.

I do it nearly constantly during chilling. Heat dissipation is a function of the difference in temperature. The wider the spread, the better. That boundary layer begins to build in seconds, reducing your heat removal significantly.
 
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