cooling the wort down

Hi all,

I have a quick question, I just brewed a beer today (extract). I was in the process of adding the wort to the primary and cooling it down to pitch the yeast and I had to leave for a couple of hours. The beer still hadn't cooled down, so I loosely covered the beer to prevent any nasties from getting to it. Will this cause any problems? Should I be all set?

I activated my liquid yeast a couple of hours ago. I am assuming that the yeast should be fine. Right?

Thanks in advance
Brian

Define cooled down? The danger zone is 140F to under 80F as I recall. Pitch as soon as you can, smack pack should have swollen. You want the yeast to take control and overwhelm any other life forms. Better to pitch the yeast a little warm than to let the wort linger IMO. Then get the wort in a place that is cool within fermentation temps per package. Time will tell if you will be ok - no other way to know but completing the process.

Brew free or die!

When I last checked the wort was at 120. I was told that yeast shouldn't be pitched until the temp goes below 80, because you can risk the yeast being killed.

I typically don't get my finished wort cooled as fast as I'd like. One time, I even left the covered fermenter overnight and pitched in the morning. So far, I haven't had any problems with infections in my beer, and everything has come out quite tasty.

If it were me, I would wait till your wort gets to pitching temp. Everything will probably be fine!

I don't like to take chances with pitching into wort that is too hot. If you don't have one already, get a lab grade thermometer that you can quickly sanitize and dip into the wort to periodically check the temp (I usually set the thermometer in a jar of iodophor while the wort cools... can easily go back and forth taking readings).

I'm assuming that you've already decided to pitch or not by this time since the post was from last night. Do you use an immersion chiller? I usually don't tell people to buy stuff, but I finally broke down and got one from morebeer.com. It is one of those pieces of equipment that I don't know how I did without for so long. Totally worth dropping 60 or 70 bucks on one.

In the future, if you think you're down to 80 degrees then go ahead and pitch the yeast. Worst case scenario is that it was too hot, yeast died, and you'll have to pitch another smack pack of yeast. If you pitched last night, then wait four or five days. If you don't see any airlock activity by then, go ahead and pitch another pack.

Quick ? as this is brew day! Obviously I am new to this (only 2 batches under my belt) I have in the past (and this time) boiled and chilled ~3.5 gal of water the night before, so I can add it into the carboy first before adding the hot wort (to aide in chilling). Question is: Does this water (tap) really need to be boiled 1st, then cooled? I have been reading of people topping off their carboy and the like with tap water to reach the 5 gal mark...does not seem like they are adding (sanitized water). Also, could I use a few gallons of bottled water instead of tap water (in the hopes of not having to boil and cool it)?? Is this bottled water (if neccessary) sanitized??
Thanks

Two schools of thought:

1) SANITIZE, SANITIZE AND SANITIZE - These people will triple santize EVERYTHING, wear clean suits, etc.

If you are this type of person and would cry for months about a ruined batch. Better safe than sorry and biol the water and then cool it. If you are thinking that far ahead why not boil the water first?

2) SANITIZE - These people believe that sanitization is VERY important, but understand that no world is perfect.

If you are this type of person then keep doing what you are doing. I have added tap water (RO water) to my batches on a regular basis. I do this with my wines and with my beers with no ill effects. I figure that my RO system was heavily santized when I installed it and the water comes out bacteria free so why worry about putting it in my wort?

The bottled water question: I have done it.

I have zero spoiled batches *knock *knock on wood and no off flavors in my beers. Just keep a reasonable degree of craziness about sanitation and remember that nature wants your beer to taste good and ferment perfectly. Yeast is good at taking over a batch in an environment of wort.

nickjam said:

nature wants your beer to taste good and ferment perfectly.

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot. I like the above quote...keeps things chill and in perspective. going with the pre-boiled/chilled water this time...will try bottled next time for a one day brewing cycle. Thanks again.

I had this problem with my first coupla batches. I placed my work in an ice bath, thinking that would be "quick." Ended up having to let it sit overnight.

I really didn't want to mess with a cooling device, though. Still don't. The hobby already takes more space than I can really afford to give it.

So, I use ice. Yep, straight into the scalding hot wort. I do about a 2.5 gallon boil, use ice to cool it, and top off with cool water.

Most folks will tell you that this is a bad idea, that you're risking infection. I think that probably depends mainly on the source of your water and your ice. I'm still on the new side, with maybe 20 batches of beer under my belt, but no infections so far!

Whenever I do partial boils I have never boiled the top off water first. I just pour it in straight from my faucet. I have made 5 batches so far without any issues. Not saying that something bad couldn't happen, but it just hasn't happened to me.