Lessons Learned

.....the hard way

So in the spirit of experimentation which, I think we as homebrewers are all interested in, I tried a new way to cool wort quickly...

...with less than stellar results.

I have a copper coil wort chiller that works pretty well. It cools 5 gal from 212 deg. to 100 deg. in less than 15 minutes. But getting it down past that takes quite a bit longer and I have been trying different ways to remedy this.

I tried putting sanitized bags of ice in it with ok results. I tried putting the kettle in an ice bath with ok results.

This time I tried adding dried ice thinking that its pretty cold and it wont change the amount of water added. All was going well till i put it in. For a few seconds I thought everything would work out pretty well. Then it exploded. The wort was just viscous enough to ensure that the bubbles of nitrogen formed didn't pop. So it bubbled up looking like the Brain Beast that Ate Texas. And went all over the kitchen. I mean all over. No, really. We tried just pushing the foam into the sink but the sink filled and then the counter filled and then it went all over the floor.

I was able to get about 4 gallons or wort into the carboy though so I think its going to work out but man.... I wouldnt recomend anyone do this.

Anyone else have any innovations-gone-bad that they want to share?

I'm sorry but I just about choked laughing. Then I read it to HWMO and he had a good laugh at your expense too. I think you learned a valuable lesson today.

Air Pirate....

This thread sux without pictures of your exploding brain beast!!!

Wow...sorry about that...Nice try though.

I think there was a discussion a while back about doing this. I don't remember if anyone actually tried it. I think everyone reasoned it through and decided it would probably be a bad idea.

Funny story though. That must be a God awful sticky mess...

Was this before or after you went stark raving mad?!

Air Pirate said:

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What kind of brew would the Joker brew?

OMG, dood! That is crazy!

Dry ice is dicy stuff, as you now know. So...um..yeah....with a liquid of the specific gravity of post-boil, near-room-temperature wort and a rapidly sublimating material like frozen CO2.....

Maybe you could find a way to control the effect for a Halloween party

I've done a lot of dumb things by accident, lots. The most recent: I put a black QR on the gas-in post on a keg (I wanted to use the CO2 to push the StarSan solution from one keg into another while sanitizing my filter assembly). Had to remove the post and hack saw it off. Dumb.

That... was... freakin'.... AWESOME!

Man, I got such a visual from your episode. I can see you standing there in anticipation and wonder, move slowly to dawning realization and then concluding with horror. Slip sliding in panic and terror while you attempt to save what's left of your brew, all the time thinking, 'Where the hell was my head?'

So, what are you calling this one? Runaway rock show ale? The Wort that ate my kitchen lager?

I pictured an explosion kind of like the time I was making french fries at home, and I dropped the fries, which had clumps of ice on them, into oil that was a little too hot. There was oil effing everywhere.

But I still lol'd. Hahaha, sorry man. We all have food-based explosions once in a while.

Revvy said:

This thread sux without pictures of your exploding brain beast!!!

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I was a tad preoccupied and i only thought of getting pictures after the fact.

Edcculus said:

I think there was a discussion a while back about doing this.

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I must have missed that one...

eschatz said:

What kind of brew would the Joker brew?

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something like this but purple no doubt. :fro:

Fingers said:

So, what are you calling this one? Runaway rock show ale? The Wort that ate my kitchen lager?

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Perhaps Graveyard Spiral Saison... (in sticking with the aviation theme)

SkinnyShamrock said:

I pictured an explosion kind of like the time I was making french fries at home, and I dropped the fries, which had clumps of ice on them, into oil that was a little too hot.

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now *that* is a mistake you only make once!

I'm glad you all enjoyed laughing at my expense
I was laughing about it too, afterwards... XD