Alternatives to wort chiller

[animalmother90]

Hi all

I'm looking to get some ideas around wort chilling alternatives to the coil and plate varieties.

The house I live in doesn't have suitable taps for the hose run offs so I was thinking either bath tub with ice or even some small plastic bottles full of frozen water, sanitised then plunged into the wort? That sounds like an insane even as I type but I can't think of anything else.

Cheers

 

[brew_ny]

you could do no chill

S_M

 

[animalmother90]

you could do no chill

S_M

Is the wort okay to leave to naturally cool at room temperature with the lid on or is that likely to spoil the final product?

 

[exileonmainst]

It's fine, but it will be cloudy. Just google "no chill homebrewing" or something like that and you'll find a million threads on it.

 

[Pyg]

Hi all

I'm looking to get some ideas around wort chilling alternatives to the coil and plate varieties.

The house I live in doesn't have suitable taps for the hose run offs so I was thinking either bath tub with ice or even some small plastic bottles full of frozen water, sanitised then plunged into the wort? That sounds like an insane even as I type but I can't think of anything else.

Cheers

I just fill my sink with ice water and put my kettle in the water. I put the lid on and come back in about an hour when it is down below 100.
I then keep 1 gallon of water in the fridge and dump into the fermentor.

or go to a tool store or big box store and buy a big plastic bucket to create an ice bath and go have a beer!

 

[Psylocide]

It's fine, but it will be cloudy. Just google "no chill homebrewing" or something like that and you'll find a million threads on it.

Is this blonde pretty cloudy? No chill, 2 weeks in the bottle... 48 hrs in the fridge. Sadly, I don't have any other pics after another week of bottle conditioning.

 

[beeton]

Hi all

I'm looking to get some ideas around wort chilling alternatives to the coil and plate varieties.

The house I live in doesn't have suitable taps for the hose run offs so I was thinking either bath tub with ice or even some small plastic bottles full of frozen water, sanitised then plunged into the wort? That sounds like an insane even as I type but I can't think of anything else.

Cheers

http://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/Brass_Sink_Faucet_Adapter_p/sink-faucet-adapter-brass.htm
Can also be used to attache garden hose for chiller.
Also available at local hardware stores.

 

[unionrdr]

I put the kettle in the sink with cold water to near the top of the sink. This knocks off some heat real quick. Then drain the sink, place kettle back in sink with an inverted salad plate under it. Then fill sink around kettle with ice to the top. Then top that off with cold tap water. Add ice as needed till it gets down to pitch temp. Or, like I do,chill a couple gallons of the spring water I brew with in the fridge a day or two before brew day. Then chill the hot wort down to 75F or so, then strain into sanitized fermenter. Top off with chilled water to recipe volume. This gets the wort down to 63-65F real quick. It can also give a decent cold break as well. NB & Midwest sell adapters too. I got one for my spray wand.

 

[brew_ny]

Is this blonde pretty cloudy? No chill, 2 weeks in the bottle... 48 hrs in the fridge. Sadly, I don't have any other pics after another week of bottle conditioning.

beat me to it

 

[MaxStout]

You could set up a recirculation system with an immersion chiller and pump. BYO has a good article on the subject, as well.

 

[TinyHands]

Seconding no-chill, though I haven't actually tried it yet (I always use an ice bath or a snowbank). Eager to try this method, if only to cut down the length of time I'm tied up on brew day and the amount of water I use. An ice bath always feels wasteful to me, and a wort chiller seems even more so.

 

[brew_ny]

Seconding no-chill, though I haven't actually tried it yet (I always use an ice bath or a snowbank). Eager to try this method, if only to cut down the length of time I'm tied up on brew day and the amount of water I use. An ice bath always feels wasteful to me, and a wort chiller seems even more so.

when I use my chiller I just have my water go back into the well

more then likely the batch I am brewing right now will be my last no chill until this fall

I have found with no chill if you have a box fan moving air around the pot it cools much faster

all the best

S_M

 

[devil1]

Do to the drought in California I switched over to a recirculation system. I freeze 1 gallon bottles of water and toss them into a bin of water. It works pretty good, next batch I will be using two bins of of ice water. One to chill down to 100 and the next to bring it down to 70.

I bought a pump from harbor freight and I use extra storage bins. Total cost to me was about 20 dollars.

 

[dwhite60]

Do to the drought in California I switched over to a recirculation system. I freeze 1 gallon bottles of water and toss them into a bin of water. It works pretty good, next batch I will be using two bins of of ice water. One to chill down to 100 and the next to bring it down to 70.

I bought a pump from harbor freight and I use extra storage bins. Total cost to me was about 20 dollars.

I feel for you people in California.

It's a wonder they're not making you capture the steam from your boil.


All the Best,
D. White

 

[wailingguitar]

Most kitchen faucets can be set up with a fitting to accept a garden hose, quick trip to Lowe's or Home Depot should get you what you need and allow you to use immersion chiller

 

[feinbera]

The challenge with all of these alternatives (other than immersion chiller + ice bath + recirculating pump) is that they're gonna be sloooooooowwwwww. Hazy beer is a matter of personal taste and can be corrected by crashing/fining/etc., but I don't think anybody likes an extra hour or two tacked onto that brew day.

If I didn't have a hose spigot right outside from the kitchen, I'd look into the sink adaptor or the ice bath + recirculation pump.

 

[Brew_G]

I pop the kettle into my laundry room sink which is filled with cold water, two milk gallons of -10F frozen water and a few similarly frozen water bottles and soup quart containers (the kettle sits on top of the gallon blocks of ice). If I manually circulate the water in the sink and also occasionally swirl the wort with a slotted spoon, I can get down to 65F in a little over an hour. It's a royal PIA, but it works.

 

[rocketsan]

I put two bags of store bought ice in my fermenting bucket and pour hot wort right in over ice. Done and done.

 

[TinyHands]

I put two bags of store bought ice in my fermenting bucket and pour hot wort right in over ice. Done and done.

Okay, I have red flags going up, but it might just be the newbness. Are there sanitation issues with this?

 

[unionrdr]

That's what most are concerned with, yes. Freezing doesn't kill everything.

 

[brew_ny]

Okay, I have red flags going up, but it might just be the newbness. Are there sanitation issues with this?

I did this for the first few brews I did and did not have any problem I just figured the boiling wort was hot enough long enough

I use a chiller in the summer and then no chill the rest of the time

as to cloudy/hazy beer I have never had a problem with that an no chill, I have stopped using Irish moss

about 10 brews ago and have not seen any differences in the end product and I repeat recipes a lot

I do cold crash everything I brew for 3 day at 32-32 f

all the best

S_M

 

[ArcLight]

Is the wort okay to leave to naturally cool at room temperature with the lid on or is that likely to spoil the final product?

As the wort cools it contracts and will suck in some air. And if the lid doesn't fit perfectly you could have dust settling. If the air that is sucked in contains bacteria, yeast, or mold you can get an infection.

The less time it sits at room temperature before pitching, the better.
5 gallons has a lot of thermal mass so will take time to cool.


No chill using a container like this is a good idea for brewing in drought areas:
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?sku=75032&gclid=CJSZq4earcUCFQYHaQodL50AYw

 

[TinyHands]

As the wort cools it contracts and will suck in some air. And if the lid doesn't fit perfectly you could have dust settling. If the air that is sucked in contains bacteria, yeast, or mold you can get an infection.

I could probably prevent that by just letting it cool in a fermenting bucket with an airlock, right? And just make sure I've got a hawk's eye on the airlock watching for suckback. Though I guess if no-chill is something I'd be doing a lot, $15 isn't a tough investment to justify.

 

[Psylocide]

I could probably prevent that by just letting it cool in a fermenting bucket with an airlock, right? And just make sure I've got a hawk's eye on the airlock watching for suckback. Though I guess if no-chill is something I'd be doing a lot, $15 isn't a tough investment to justify.

Apparently the S-type airlocks don't allow for fluid to be sucked into the fermenter (I have no experience with them).

But, I let chill in my kettle until it gets down to ~90-100° (usually 4-ish hours), transfer to carboy and cover with StarSan'd aluminum foil. That way you don't have to worry about suck back.

I imagine you could do the same over the hole in the bucket.

 

[skw]

As the wort cools it contracts and will suck in some air. And if the lid doesn't fit perfectly you could have dust settling. If the air that is sucked in contains bacteria, yeast, or mold you can get an infection.

Unless you fill your carboy all the way to the top, there's always air over your wort. Nobody has any concerns when aerating with plain air using a venturi hose or by shaking, so why should it become a problem when leaving it sit to chill?

If you're really concerned, just use a stopper with a bend hose. As the pasteur flask shows, it's dust that's the problem, not air: http://study.com/cimages/multimages/16/LP_3.png

 

[Pyg]

Apparently the S-type airlocks don't allow for fluid to be sucked into the fermenter (I have no experience with them).


.

In all my years using S-type Airlocks I have never seen fluid sucked back in. When I clean my carboys (with hot water), I put them empty and put a bung/S-Lock on and you can hear it trying to pull the liquid in, but never does.

Same with a my fermenting bucket.
Which is why I have switched over to nothing but S-Locks!

 

[ArcLight]

I could probably prevent that by just letting it cool in a fermenting bucket with an airlock, right? And just make sure I've got a hawk's eye on the airlock watching for suckback. Though I guess if no-chill is something I'd be doing a lot, $15 isn't a tough investment to justify.

It would still suck in air, through the air lock.
Maybe that would filter it? I'm not sure.

I'm not saying this is likely to result in infection, just that it's a possibility.
That's why people use No Chill containers (cubes) such as the HDPE Winpack.

 

[rocketsan]

Okay, I have red flags going up, but it might just be the newbness. Are there sanitation issues with this?

Been doing it for years without issue (knock on wood)...

 

[bloodysafety]

An ice bath always feels wasteful to me, and a wort chiller seems even more so.

Take up horticulture in a serious way, then you can use yer chiller waste for irrigation or to fill/top off a nutrient reservoir Or as soon as the ice bath is done throw some cleaner in it and use it for that!

 

[Nerosync]

You can buy the hose adapters for faucets....

When I first started I used the ice bath in the sink procedure. It works fairly well but to cool the wort down as fast as possible when doing so you need to circulate the wort inside the kettle so that warm wort stays in contact with the cooler outside. You also end up going through a lot of ice doing so, so ensure you have one of the LARGE bags of ice on hand for brew days.

But for 4.00 or less it is worth buying and adapter like the one below, putting it on your sink or bathtub faucet and using a chiller of some sort. So much easier/faster and you will get much clearer beer.

https://www.homebrewing.org/Faucet-Adaptor-For-Sink_p_663.html

 

[robo nixon]

The ice bath in the washbasin method was what I used when I first started. It functions reasonably well, but to chill the wort down as quickly as possible while doing so, you must circulate the wort inside the kettle such that warm wort stays in contact with the cooler outside. As a result, you wind up using a lot of ice, so make sure you have one of the LARGE bags of ice on hand on brew days.

 

[Steveruch]

Works great for me. The only haze issue I've had was in a dry hopped IPA.

 

[balrog]

OP hasn't been seen since April 2015. I wonder how everything worked out.