Gonna utilize snow outside for cooling kettle....

I'm gonna do a one gallon caribou slobber extract tomorrow and wanna use snow mound outside to cool kettle down will I cover it with
Lid while outside or do I worry about steam drops dripping back into wort ?

That'll work just fine. I'd jam it down in the snow and stir it with a sanitized spoon so it'd cool faster. Putting the lid on will trap the heat.

Actually, you will find that what you end up doing is making an upside down igloo for your brew kettle within the first few seconds. The snow will melt away from the kettle and then you will have a blanket of air around the kettle. What works WAY better is filling a tub with water, placing your BK in it and add snow to the water, making an ice bath. I wouldn't put the lid on until the steaming has calmed down. Anything that falls in when the wort is that hot is gonna die anyway. When the steaming calms down then put the lid on and continue cooling.

I tried that with a 2.5 gallon batch and it did nothing - I'm sure it was the igloo effect mentioned above. Maybe put a tub of water outside when you start brewing so it'll be a nice cold water bath when it's time to chill. Add snow to the water bath if it warms up.

Snow makes an excellent insulator and will work well to keep your wort hot.....but you want it to cool, not stay warm. I utilize snow all the time but by setting the pot into a tub of water and dumping snow into the water to keep it cold. That leaves you with your pot in contact with water that is the temperature of the melting snow so if you use enough snow, it will chill efficiently.

JonM said:

I tried that with a 2.5 gallon batch and it did nothing - I'm sure it was the igloo effect mentioned above. Maybe put a tub of water outside when you start brewing so it'll be a nice cold water bath when it's time to chill. Add snow to the water bath if it warms up.

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If I put the tub of water outside when I'm halfway through the boil I can't break the ice on top to set the pot in. It must be the -30 temperature that does it.

RM-MN said:

If I put the tub of water outside when I'm halfway through the boil I can't break the ice on top to set the pot in. It must be the -30 temperature that does it.

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No thank you! That's just too friggin cold.

RM-MN said:

If I put the tub of water outside when I'm halfway through the boil I can't break the ice on top to set the pot in. It must be the -30 temperature that does it.

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Heh. I hear you guys are getting -60F wind chills these days.

Yup, I thought plunking the kettle in the snow would work great too. As others have said, it didn't work all that well.

Glad I asked before I did it

Also the northern brewer instructions say to put lid on kettle while cooling in ice bath obviously that is wrong shouldn't they know better about putting lid on kettle?

You don't want the lid on during the boil.

I always put the lid on during the chill, particularly when the temps start getting below 140 or so.

So it's ok to put lid on while steeping and while chilling just not during boil?

A word of caution as I consider the enthusiasm in another thread on this forum.

Avoid Yellow Snow!

rave808 said:

So it's ok to put lid on while steeping and while chilling just not during boil?

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More or less.

I don't have any concern to put the lid on my kettle during the boil time for short periods to get the temp back to boil more quickly. I just don't leave it on all the time. Sorta like a throttle or maybe better, a choke. Apply the choke when necessary to get things started but once you're running you don't need the choke.

During cooling, yes, I endeavour to keep covered as much as possible.

My son in law and I brewed in upstate New York a few weeks ago and it was 7degrees outside. The snow pit didn't work so we just set it on the snow and that worked better until we found a melted dog turd under it when we went to move it.

We ended up putting it in the tub with water and snow and was down to pitching temp in less than 30 mins.

Good luck
Rick

Just used "set in snow" technique. Kept stirring with sanitized spoon and moving kettle around to keep contact with snow. We're at -14, no windchill, and BK cooled to 80 within 14 minutes. Must keep contact with snow. Also good idea to wear a coat. Just sayin.

Well, not that it can't work with enough effort, but just setting it in a snowbank doesn't. FWIW, and not really intending to brag as much as illustrating the point, I can do better in a 70-degree room with tap water running though an immersion coil.

I'm just doing a 1 gallon batch in a 3 gallon kettle and I don't own a chiller yet

rave808 said:

So it's ok to put lid on while steeping and while chilling just not during boil?

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The reason not to put the lid on has mainly to do with DMS precursor. If you are doing extract then you don't have to worry so much about DMS. If you are doing all grain, especially with pilsner malt, you need to boil uncovered (90 minutes for pilsner malt) to volatilize most of the DMS. If you put a lid on you are capturing the things you want to get rid of. Here is an article on DMS and SMM (the precursor):

http://beersmith.com/blog/2012/04/10/dimethyl-sulfides-dms-in-home-brewed-beer/

Toy4Rick said:

My son in law and I brewed in upstate New York a few weeks ago and it was 7degrees outside. The snow pit didn't work so we just set it on the snow and that worked better until we found a melted dog turd under it when we went to move it.



We ended up putting it in the tub with water and snow and was down to pitching temp in less than 30 mins.



Good luck

Rick

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+1 with putting kettle in tub and use snow to cool the water. Simple physics will tell you what everyone else has said. Snow is actually a great insulator. Lay down in it and you will see.

Instead, use a sanitized spoon to stir you wort one direction, cover, then stir your chilling water/snow mixture the opposite direction. Heat transfer is increased when there is a current. That's why wind chill is so dangerous...

Yeah did the sink with cold water and snow thanx for advice