cooling wort

I saw a video on home brewing by Samual Adams. He (not Sam himself) spooned the hot wort into the fermenter that had two chunks of ice that were from 2 frozen gallon jugs of purified water. I have also seen in a book on placing the brew kettle in a tub of ice or cold water. Which technique is most often used when making beer with a liquid malt extract? I saw this video on the Sam Adams web site under "The Art of Home Brewing".
Signed, Just getting started...
Gus

Both are valid techniques.

If you're doing a partial boil (i.e., boiling less wort than your end batch size), the boiled, then frozen water jug technique is a good way to go.

If you're boiling the entire batch of beer, an ice bath is a simple solution.

If you'd like to get a little more high-tech and skip the ice, look into a copper wort chiller (search the forum).

Well, I'm just getting started as well (on my 4th batch). I can tell you that the first batch I did, I poured the hot wort in to 3 gallons of cold water. My whole first batch tasted like band aids. I suspect it was from whats called hot side aeration.

The last 3 batches I have cooled the wort first in an ice bath and then mixed in the other water. Haven't had the problem since.

ffgus said:

I saw a video on home brewing by Samual Adams. He (not Sam himself)...
Gus

Click to expand...

I hope not...he died in 1803!

But his liver lives on and on...

BNVince said:

I suspect it was from whats called hot side aeration.

Click to expand...

I'd bet a million bucks that the band-aid flavor wasn't from hot side aeration. Did you sanitize with bleach?

What is hot side aeration?

ffgus said:

What is hot side aeration?

Click to expand...

Nothing to worry about, particularly with extract brews. It's a phenomenon that occurs when you aerate the wort while it's hot, typically during the mash or sparge. Some claim that it contributes to long-term stability problems. I've yet to find a homebrewer who can definitively blame HSA for a particular off flavor, and the root cause of most problems can usually be narrowed down to something more concrete.

Welcome ffgus. I've never put frozen ice directly in the wort. Definitely sanitize everything that contacts your wort after boiling & while cooling. 1/2 cap iodophor/2.5 gals, has been a excellent sanitizer solution for every brew I've done. Ice in the sink is as good as it gets around here for now. About 80F in 20 mins. Start with cold water for 2 rounds then move to the ice. I want a chiller too

When I watched this particular video, he was using a ladle to move the wort from the brew pot to the fermenter. It was kind of a slow spooning method.

Yuri_Rage said:

I'd bet a million bucks that the band-aid flavor wasn't from hot side aeration. Did you sanitize with bleach?

Click to expand...

I santized with One-Step sanitizer. I could be wrong about the hot side aeration but it's the only thing I can think of.

BNVince said:

I santized with One-Step sanitizer. I could be wrong about the hot side aeration but it's the only thing I can think of.

Click to expand...

It wasn't HSA that was the problem. It think it was probably a chlorine problem. HSA is only evident in beer stored long-term (more than a couple of months) and isn't described as a "band-aid" flavor, but rather a "cardboard" flavor.

HSA is a myth amoung homebrewers and is only a problem for large commercial breweries (where they pump 1,000's of gal. over long distances). And, HSA only occurs preboil. Theoretically, it happens when oxygen bonds with lipids and permentantly changes the compounds.

HSA doesn't really occur after the boil, because at that point you're supposed to reintroduce oxygen back into the wort for the yeast.

srm775 said:

HSA doesn't really occur after the boil, because at that point you're supposed to reintroduce oxygen back into the wort for the yeast.

Click to expand...

Good to know. I was under the impression that introducing oxygen to the wort if it was above 100 degrees could cause off flavors.

BNVince said:

Good to know. I was under the impression that introducing oxygen to the wort if it was above 100 degrees could cause off flavors.

Click to expand...

It could, but not likely the culprit for the off-taste you described. Besides, you'd have to inject air, and a lot of it, into the wort at temps above 80+. But really, search around on forums and you'll find that most homebrewers believe its more a myth.