Can I cool outside?

It is 17 degrees out here and I was wondering if I could cool my wort outside instead of doing the whole ice/water in the sink thing... Any suggestions?

Not really, unless there's snow. Water does a far superior job of transferring heat than air does. If you have a snow outside, you could pack snow around it and it would be kinda like an ice bath.

in the winter months I use the snow banks right outside my house because I find that they work great, I just set the boil kettle on the top and let it sink in come back in about 5-10 min and check the temp. and move it to another pile of snow if needed

Ahh the joy of snow. This might just work I have a few inches left, we will see how much melts between now and the time I get my kit. Thanks!

We've got a good 6" here. Took about 30 mins to cool my last batch of wort.

Hey that's a happier way to look at it. After Receiving about a foot of wort chiller last week, we have regularly been getting about 3-5 inches of new wort chiller every other day. Sometimes I think my ancesters immigrated here on a dare.

If we are just talking about methods that don't involve an IC or other chiller, a waterbath using snow to cool the water would be the most effective method.

If you put it in a bank of snow, the snow melts and freezes and can form an insulating layer. Water is better able to transfer the energy than the air or snow.

olllllo said:

If you put it in a bank of snow, the snow melts and freezes and can form an insulating layer. Water is better able to transfer the energy than the air or snow.

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When I used a snow bank I moved my kettle every few mins, the initial melt of snow seemed to drop the temp very rapidly.

Deacon240 said:

When I used a snow bank I moved my kettle every few mins, the initial melt of snow seemed to drop the temp very rapidly.

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If you use water bath, snow and some rock salt, you can get the water to be below freezing.

olllllo said:

If you use water bath, snow and some rock salt, you can get the water to be below freezing.

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SWMBO banned me from using the bath tub for that. Need to get a big tub if I want to use that again (just built a CFC couple days ago so going to use that next)

Do you know what snow looks like olllllo? Have you experienced this phenomenon before? Whats the temp in Phoenix right now?

Talloak said:

Do you know what snow looks like olllllo? Have you experienced this phenomenon before? Whats the temp in Phoenix right now?

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Hi today of 60, Lo 45.

I hope to get up to Northern AZ this week to get in the snow.

2 years ago we had flurries in Phoenix.

But yeah, I lived in Milwaukee for over 25 years. One year it snowed on May 15th.

I am from SW Wisconsin, (Ocooch Mts.) and went to UW-Milwaukee for a year. Family resides there and is originally from there.

I used snow yesterday to cool my wort. Filled my slop sink with water, then added snow after the primary was in there.